White House Extends Invitation to Vitol and Trafigura for Discussions on Venezuelan Oil

White House Invites Vitol and Trafigura for Venezuelan Oil Discussions

According to a recent Reuters report, U.S. President Donald Trump has called leaders from major commodity trading companies, Vitol and Trafigura, to the White House this Friday to discuss strategies for marketing Venezuelan oil.

While the Trump administration has enlisted American oil giants to take a prominent role in extracting and distributing Venezuelan crude, Vitol and Trafigura—two of the world’s top oil traders—bring significant expertise to the table when it comes to global oil marketing.

In 2024, Vitol managed an average of 7.2 million barrels per day of crude and refined products, while Trafigura handled about 4.3 million barrels of oil equivalent daily. Combined, their operations account for over 10% of the world’s daily oil consumption.

Both companies have broadened their business activities, investing in assets such as refineries and storage, and have diversified into sectors like metals and renewable energy to adapt to changing market trends. They are also among the primary purchasers of fuel from major new projects, including Nigeria’s Dangote oil refinery.

Unlike European energy giants such as Shell (NYSE:SHEL) and BP Plc. (NYSE:BP), American oil majors like ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) typically do not operate large-scale trading divisions, instead prioritizing their core focus on exploration and production.

Despite possessing the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves—exceeding 300 billion barrels—Venezuela’s crude output remains modest, averaging between 900,000 and 1 million barrels per day. This is a sharp decline from its historical peak of over 3 million barrels daily, largely due to Western sanctions, chronic underinvestment, operational mismanagement, and widespread corruption.

The majority of Venezuela’s oil is found in the Orinoco Belt in the country’s east. This region is known for its extra-heavy, high-sulfur crude with low API gravity, making extraction and refining more complex and costly compared to lighter grades. Transport and processing require blending with diluents such as naphtha and specialized upgrading facilities.

Written by Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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