Vitol has not had a single loss-making year in its half-century history (the company will celebrate its 50th anniversary in August). According to Bloomberg Markets, its profits have risen from $22.9m in 1995 to a record $2.28bn in 2009. At its peak, Vitol’s return on equity was an unthinkable 56%. Even Wall Street pales next to such success: Goldman Sachs’ peak return on equity since its IPO in 1999 was 31%. Jean-François Lambert, who worked extensively with the company as head of global commodity markets and structured trade finance at HSBC, says: “Vitol has established itself as an energy trader at its most extreme. Journalists traced the history of Vitol’s…

Taylor, chief executive of the Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil trader, caught himself thinking he would like to see a full-fledged jet fighter in the place of the drone accompanying him. The head of Vitol, Ian Taylor It was early 2011. Rebels opposed to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year dictatorship had just taken control of the city and appointed their own government. A meeting with this motley group of former military officials and local politicians was arranged surprisingly quickly, but Taylor realised that if anyone could make a deal with them, it would be Vitol. A few weeks ago, one of its top managers in Dubai, Christopher Baik, received…