Gunvor opens Houston office
The Geneva-based company will focus on trading refined products, bitumen and natural gas from its new offices, and has secured a \\$500mn loan to support the new operations.
The office has 10 staff, but is growing, Gunvor said. The company's other trading offices are in Geneva, Singapore, Shanghai, Dubai and Nassau.
Gunvor is one of a number of trading firms to have diversified its activities into the refining and downstream sectors in recent years. The firm operates almost 300,000 b/d of refining capacity in Europe — it owns the 115,000 b/d Independent Belgian Refinery (IBR) in Antwerp, the 100,000 b/d Ingolstadt refinery in Germany and has most recently purchased the 80,000 b/d Europoort refinery in Rotterdam from Kuwait's KPC.
These refineries produce large amounts of gasoline, and the new Houston office could help Gunvor work the products arbitrage between the US and Europe. Much of Europe and Russia's vacuum gasoil (VGO) goes to the US, and Europe takes large volumes of diesel from the US.
Around 40pc of Gunvor's crude comes from the Americas, according to the company.
The borrowing facility is jointly lead-arranged by Rabobank and ABN Amro. The other lenders are ING, Natixis, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole.
Gunvor generated \\$64bn in revenue last year, with a net profit of \\$1.25bn.
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