Vitol Group is leveraging nearly $45 billion in recent profits to transform from the world’s largest oil trader into a diversified commodity empire, with its latest move targeting the mining sector.
The Geneva-based company announced a partnership with Breakwall Capital to launch Valor Mining Credit Partners LP, a fund providing financing to mining companies across the Americas. The initiative represents Vitol’s expanding strategy to secure supply chains across multiple commodity sectors using wealth accumulated during recent energy market disruptions.
Vitol has generated extraordinary returns over the past five years, including $8 billion in 2024 profits that maintained its position as the globe’s most profitable energy trader. Even as those earnings declined from $13.2 billion in 2023 due to calmer markets, the company continues to systematically invest its windfall into physical assets and new trading sectors.
In the mining credit fund, Breakwall will manage operations while Vitol provides capital for debt restructuring and expansion projects, typically securing future metal supply agreements in return. The approach addresses financing gaps as traditional banks avoid resource sector investments.
“We see a tremendous opportunity to bridge an unmet need in the marketplace,” Breakwall’s managing partners said in a statement.
Vitol remains dominant in energy markets. The company handles 7.2 million barrels daily of oil and refined products — roughly 7% of global supply — while expanding liquefied natural gas trading by 10% to 19.4 million tons of oil equivalent in 2024.
Annual turnover dropped to $331 billion last year, an 18% decrease reflecting normalized energy prices after disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s energy crisis.
Looking ahead, Vitol expects global oil demand to peak around 110 million barrels per day in the early 2030s before declining to 105 million barrels per day by 2040. That outlook is driving the company’s push beyond traditional energy trading into sectors like metals, agriculture and other industrial commodities.
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