Reporter’s Memo On the Misconduct and Wrongdoing of the Companies Trump Just Handed Licenses to Trade Venezuelan Oil
Along with well-known energy oil giants such as Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, two little-known but influential European energy trading firms are among the 17 energy companies meeting with President Trump and top White House officials today. These firms, based in Geneva and Rotterdam, stand to reap massive benefits from the Trump administration’s Venezuelan coup. Media reports establish that commodity trading firms Vitol and Trafigura received licenses from the Trump Administration to trade Venezuelan oil.
These two financial commodity trading powerhouses, which trade billions of financial contracts on global markets and control physical assets as well, have troubling track records of misconduct and wrongdoing, with each company paying more than $100 million in criminal and civil settlements and penalties.
Trafigura is a privately held global commodity trader with primary operations in Geneva, Switzerland. Trafigura owns and controls physical energy infrastructure, which it utilizes to maximize returns for its financial energy trading operations. In the United States, Trafigura has an “indirect interest” Wolverine Fuels which operates coal mines in Utah and Colorado, and Impala Terminals’ Burnside Terminal located on the Mississippi River in Darrow, Louisiana. The Burnside Terminal is a major coal exporting facility. In November 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized Trafigura to acquire a fleet of fossil fuel power plants, including
- A 520 MW gas-fueled facility in Bridgeport, CT.
- 179 MW of gas-fired facilities in and around West Springfield, MA that are scheduled to retire by June 1, 2025.
- The Newington 606 MW gas facility in Portsmouth, NH.
- Essential Power OPP, a 383 MW gas power plant in Lakewood, NJ.
- Rock Springs, a 773 MW natural gas-fired facility in Rising Sun, MD.
- Hamilton Liberty, an 870 MW gas-fired power plant in Bradford County, PA.
- Hamilton Patriot, an 870 MW gas facility in Montgomery, PA.
- Lakewood, a 237 MW gas power plant in Lakewood, NJ.
- Rumford, a 275 MW natural gas generation facility in Rumford, ME.
- A 273 MW gas-fired power plant in Tiverton, RI.
In 2024, Trafigura pled guilty to criminal violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for its decade-long “scheme to pay bribes to Brazilian government officials to secure business with Brazil’s” Petrobras. Pursuant to the plea agreement, Trafigura paid a criminal fine of $80,488,040 and additional forfeiture of $46,510,257.
Separately, in June 2024, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered Trafigura to pay a $55 million civil penalty to settle charges that it unlawfully traded gasoline futures while in possession of material nonpublic information it knew had been misappropriated; for manipulating U.S. fuel oil benchmarks; and unlawfully exploiting forced non-disclosure agreements with current and former employees that dissuaded cooperation with federal investigators.
Vitol is a privately held financial commodity trading company with its primary incorporation in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and is one of the largest traders of electricity, natural gas, oil and gasoline in the United States. Vitol has investments in more than 850,000 barrels a day of refining capacity worldwide.
In addition:
- Vitol was forced to pay $135 million under a 2020 Deferred Prosecution Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice for its role in bribing Brazilian officials at the state-owned oil company Petrobras to secure lucrative contracts.
- Vitol paid an additional $95.7 million penalty in 2020 to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for corruption and market manipulation.
- In 2024, Vitol was forced to pay $50 million for manipulating gasoline prices in California.
- In 2024, Vitol paid $2.3 million to settle allegations by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that it engaged in anticompetitive behavior in California’s power market.
- Vitol paid a $500,000 penalty in 2024 to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for violating position limits.
- Vitol was one of the largest traders of refined petroleum from the Russian Federation in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, contributing to its “reputational risk.”
Further reading:
- Public Citizen Report: Congress Must Stop Trump’s Venezuelan Oil Takeover
- Statement: Big Oil’s White House Meeting