Energy trader Mercuria posts record profit in 2021

(Reuters) – Mercuria Energy Group on Friday reported record annual net profit for 2021 of $1.255 billion, compared with $786 million net income in 2020.

The Geneva-based firm increased its investment in an energy transition to more than $1 billion, CFO Guillaume Vermersch said in a statement.

This followed a boom year for the firm in 2020 and extreme volatility in oil markets due to the pandemic, in addition to strong returns across its portfolio, particularly gas and power.

In 2021, oil prices rose around 50% spurred by a global economic recovery from the pandemic slump and producer restraint, even as infections reached record highs worldwide. [O/R]

Mercuria, founded in 2004, is among the top five global oil traders, moving around 2 million barrels per day of oil and refined products.

The firm also increased its investments towards energy transition, exceeding $1 billion, in 2021, the company said.

Reuters reported in July last year that Mercuria was aggressively expanding its energy transition business, snapping up employees from oil majors BP and Shell.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, a European energy trade body comprising top energy traders Vitol, Trafigura, Mercuria and Gunvor, asked governments and financial institutions for emergency liquidity to help energy markets cope with the extreme volatility caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel, additional reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)