Vitol Hands Traders Record $6.5 Billion Payout After Profit Boom

Vitol Group paid a record dividend of $6.5 billion last year, the latest evidence of how the energy crisis has delivered spectacular riches to the world’s commodity traders.

The payout represents an average of some $14 million for each of the roughly 450 employees who own the company — with some senior traders likely to have received multiples of that. It means that the world’s largest independent oil trader has distributed more than $25 billion to its partners over the past 15 years, according to the company’s audited accounts seen by Bloomberg News.

The latest windfall highlights how the period ...