Glencore's memo shows that the head of LNG is promoted to be in charge of oil and gas trading.

According to a memo sent to Glencore staff, Maxim Kolupaev has been promoted to head the entire oil and gas division of the company when Alex Sanna leaves at the end 2025.

Trading houses often make as much money from gas and LNG as they do in their oil and fuel business, as LNG production increases globally and Europe replaces Russian natural gas with U.S.-produced LNG.

In a memo, Glencore CEO Gary Nagle stated that Kolupaev would lead the division into its next phase.

Glencore, Trafigura Mercuria Gunvor and Vitol are among the largest oil and gas trading companies in the world.

The company increased its crude oil, fuel and natural gas trading volumes from 3.3 millions barrels per day in 2023 to 3.7million barrels per daily (bpd) in 2024.

The volumes were below the 4.8m bpd Glencore sold in 2019. It trails rival Trafigura, which has 6.8m bpd, and Vitol with 7.2m bpd, the largest trading house on the planet.

Kolupaev, who has been at Glencore since 1992, began his career in Russia and then moved to the world as the global head for oil. He was appointed the global head for gas and power more recently.

Sanna leaves Glencore after 19 years. He was the head of trading in the last six years. (Reporting and editing by Jan Harvey, Jason Neely and Dmitry Zhdannikov)

(source: Reuters)