Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. is a Cyprus-domiciled Swiss[2] multinational commodity trading company active in a wide spectrum of global energy markets including crude oil and refined petroleum products, natural gas (including LNG), power, biodiesel, base metals[3] and agricultural products.[4] The company is one of the world's five largest independent energy traders and asset operators and is based in Geneva, Switzerland, with 37 additional offices worldwide.[5] The group operates in 50 countries.[6]
Mercuria was founded in 2004 by Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi, then executives at Phibro, a commodities trading firm sold by Citigroup to Occidental Petroleum in 2009.[7] The company focused on oil trading operations until 2007.[8] Prior to this, Mercuria assumed control of J&S Group, named after Polish businessmen Gregory Jankilevitsch and Wiaczeslaw Smolokowski.[9][10] They founded Mercuria with several associates, where they remain as shareholders today.[11]
Operations
In 2017, Mercuria moved about 1.5million barrels per day (240,000m3/d) of crude and oil products. The firm has upstream and downstream assets that range from oil reserves in Argentina, Canada and the United States to oil terminals in Europe and China. They also maintain a substantial investment in biofuel plants in Germany and the Netherlands.[12]
Its subsidiaries include Navitas Energy in Canada[13] and Vesta Terminal Services in Europe,[14] the latter of which operates port logistics, storage and processing facilities in the Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium, and Germany. Mercuria entered into a joint venture with Sinopec by selling 50% of the terminals in 2013.[15]
Mercuria is an active player in energy and renewable markets through investments in the energy transition, focusing on the United States and Europe.[16] The company told Bloomberg in 2021 that half of its portfolio would be allocated towards renewables within the next five years, and that it had already committed over $2 billion worth of investments into the energy transition.[16]
History
As the company expanded, it has hired traders and investment professionals from Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Louis Dreyfus Group[17] and Electrabel in London.[18] In November 2010, Mercuria Energy bought MGM International Group from Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. and MGM International LLC.[19] The Miami, Florida-based MGM International Group is a developer of international projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2014, Mercuria bought part of JPMorgan's physical commodities trading business for a reported US$3.5 billion.[20][21] Magid Shenouda, the former co-head of commodities trading at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, joined Mercuria as a shareholder, global head of trading and deputy CEO.[22]
In January 2016, Mercuria announced that ChemChina had bought a 12% stake in the company.[23]
In 2018, Mercuria agreed to acquire 30% of Aegean Marine Petroleum.[24] After Aegean Marine was reorganized,[25][26] in 2019, Mercuria acquired bankrupt Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc and restructured the company to operate as Minerva Bunkering, a physical supplier of marine fuels and a fully owned subsidiary of Mercuria Energy Group Limited.[27][28][29][30]
In 2020, Mercuria earned $786 million with revenues in line with commodity prices to about $85 billion. The company's gross profit on sales for the year was $1.86 billion.[31][32] In 2022, the company experienced record profits due to volatility in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[33]
In 2021, Mercuria bought the clean energy specialist Beyond6 from HC2Holdings for $169 million.[34] In November 2022, it was announced Beyond6 has been acquired by the Chevron Corporation subsidiary, Chevron USA Inc.[35] In April 2024, Bloomberg reported that Mercuria Energy Group was preparing to start trading in Japan’s physical power market.[36] In June 2024, the company was reportedly seeking to expand in the metals sector.[37]
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