In 2020, the corporation received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice and US CFTC, who were looking into Gunvor’s transactions in Ecuador.
An ex-employee of Gunvor entered a guilty plea in 2021 to what U.S. federal authorities described as a plan to buy business by bribing Ecuadorean government officials. Gunvor boosted the amount set aside to settle an anticipated penalties from $200 million in 2022 to $450 million at the end of June.
Because of lower petrol and oil prices, the Geneva-based trader’s revenue decreased to $61 billion from $106 billion as the market started to normalise following the turmoil brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February.
One of the top five oil merchants, Gunvor, declared a record full-year net profit of $2.36 billion in 2022. Rivals Mercuria and Vitol also posted record profits following the severe market disruptions brought on by Western sanctions against Moscow.
In the first half of 2023, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation increased slightly to $1.83 billion from $1.79 billion in the corresponding period of 2018.
The company noted that while lower price volatility had an influence on the trading margins for crude oil and oil products, LNG trading had continued to perform well because of its profitable book of long-term contracts. However, the company also noted that the volume of LNG it traded had decreased.