The world's largest oil traders are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into climate-friendly projects: including wind farms, cow manure plants, and blue hydrogen: as they seek to match the profits they make from trading oil.
Swiss investigators have executed search warrants at addresses linked to Vitol and Trafigura, their counterparts in Brazil said on Thursday, as a sprawling probe into the global commodity trading industry intensifies.
Pressure is growing on global commodity trading firms with strong ties to Switzerland for their alleged involvement in the “Car Wash” corruption scandal in Brazil. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating two Vitol executives in the Americas, according to Reuters news agency.
Commodities trader Trafigura has refused a judge's order to hand over the email archives of two former executives in Brazil who are facing corruption charges over accusations they bribed officials at state-run oil firm Petrobras.
Brazilian prosecutors on Friday charged two former executives of oil trader Trafigura over allegations of paying at least US$ 1.5 million in bribes to employees of Petrobras. Prosecutors said in a statement that the charges against Mariano Marcondes Ferraz, a former Trafigura top executive, and Marcio Pinto Magalhaes, a country representative, were the first of many to come against the world’s largest oil traders.