The world’s largest independent oil trader, Vitol, is looking to secure long-term deals with some of the biggest oil-producing countries in the Middle East, in what has become a challenging wider oil-trading market. Vitol is in discussions to seal either joint venture, or long-term offtake and supply agreements with Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Kuwait, Ian Taylor, who stepped down as CEO last week to become chairman at the oil trading group, told Bloomberg in an interview on the sidelines of the FT Global Commodities Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland. “I am going to be visiting Africa and the Middle East and trying to promote Vitol and do some structural deals,” Taylor said, adding that he couldn’t be certain that any deal would be completed because they are “bloody tough to do and bloody tough to find.” While Taylor is now chairman at Vitol, he will keep his role of managing […]