Trafigura, one of the world’s largest independent oil traders, has disclosed $33bn of direct deals with state-controlled producers during 2014 and 2015 — revealing for the first time the scale of its business with national energy companies.
In its annual responsibility report, Trafigura included payments to all state oil companies, not just those that are members of the Extractive Transparency Industries Initiative (EITI), a disclosure programme aimed at rooting out corruption and improving visibility which the trading house supports.
Last year, the Switzerland-based group became the first commodity trading house to report payments to national oil companies (NOCs) under the EITI, but has faced pressure to provide even greater transparency, as the role of commodity houses in global trade has faced increasing scrutiny from environmental and human rights groups.
“This provides further context and demonstrates the challenge ahead in broadening existing EITI coverage,” said Trafigura’s chief executive Jeremy Weir, referring to the decision to disclose aggregate total payments to non-EITI countries.
In 2014 and 2015, the group’s purchases from EITI member countries were $3.5bn and $1.4bn respectively, while purchases from non-members totalled $14.9bn and $12.7bn.
EITI is a voluntary programme that requires members to disclose payments to national oil companies for crude, fuels and gas. It also extends to metals and mining and boasts more than 50 implementing countries as well as 80 of the world’s largest natural resources companies.
But critics say it only provides limited disclosure because so many large oil producing countries — such as Russia where Trafigura buys a significant amount of crude and products — are not part of the programme.
In addition, EITI only covers direct deals between oil traders and national oil companies — not those done through intermediaries. Equally, contracts to supply NOCs with fuels such as gasoline and diesel are also not covered, even though this is a lucrative business for many trading houses.
“It’s encouraging to see these further disclosures from Trafigura. They are more up to date than the last round, and contain at least an aggregate figure about their payments to non-EITI governments,” said Alexandra Gillies, director of governance programs at the Natural Resource Governance Institute.
“The big question is why no other oil traders are following suit. Other large Swiss traders remain secretive about their payments to governments, as do the trading arms of big international oil companies like Shell and BP. The Trafigura report shows that progress in this area is possible, and it’s overdue for the other companies to shed some light on their dealings with governments around the world.”
Trafigura’s disclosure on Monday does include deals with Russia’s Rosneft, the biggest producer in Russia that is majority owned by Moscow, although companies outside the EITI are not broken out individually.
In total, its direct payments to state producers are relatively small compared with its annual turnover — which was almost $100bn in the year to September 2015 — and compared with the amount of oil it handles. In the first six months of its 2016 financial year, Trafigura handled 4m barrels of oil a day. This compares with the 281m barrels of oil and products the company says it bought from national oil companies in 2015.
In US dollar terms, Trafigura purchased $915m worth of oil and fuel last year from EITI members that included Colombia, Ghana and Peru — down 70 per cent a year earlier as it did fewer crude swaps with Nigerian National Petroleum Company. It also declared $545m of oil purchases from member countries that were loaded at foreign ports or in international waters via ship-to-ship transfers.
Trafigura has urged rivals including Vitol and Mercuria to join EITI as well as the trading arms of major oil producers such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell. So far none have followed suit.
Earlier this year, Trafigura left the Swiss Trading and Shipping Association saying that it would be better placed to promote transparency initiatives outside the group.
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