In addition to the oversupplied oil market with little direction, increased competition, and fewer open arbitrages, the markets have “frequently turned sharply on geopolitical news,” Gunvor said in its first-half report.
“All these price swings were largely disconnected from supply and demand fundamentals and made it difficult for Gunvor, as a physical trader, to find good, profit-making trading and arbitrage opportunities,” the company said.
Gunvor reported gross of profit of $524 million, an Ebitda of $686 million, and a net profit of $122 million for the first half.
Net profit dripped from $417 million in the same year.
LNG trading
Despite the “challenging” environment, physical volumes still grew 12 percent year-on-year to 123 million metric tons (MT) in the first half of 2025, which is “broadly stable” versus the second half of 2024, Gunvor said.
Most of Gunvor’s trading desks showed “positive” trading profits, albeit typically lower than in previous years, the company said.
According to Gunvor, the LNG business was the main profit contributor, while considering the softer performance of the US business in the first part of the year, changes in management and strategy are being implemented.
Gunvor did not provide the LNG volumes, but it said that natural gas showed the largest year-on-year increase, up 72 percent to 38 MT.
By contrast, oil and oil products remained broadly unchanged year-on-year at 77 MT, down 2 percent.
Gunvor has been trading LNG since 2010, and claims it has grown to become the largest independent LNG trading company in the world.
The company just signed a 20-year sales and purchase agreement with Amigo LNG, a unit of LNG Alliance, to buy LNG from the latter’s planned 7.8 mtpa LNG export plant in Mexico.
Gunvor Singapore will purchase 0.85 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 20 years from Amigo LNG’s export terminal in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico.
