The millionaire factory

350 oil traders split £1.2 billion windfall

HIGH- FLYERS at the world’s largest independent oil trader shared a £1.2bn windfall last year.

About 350 top ranking employees received about £3.4m each on average on top of salaries.

It brings to around £7.6bn the amount Vitol has given staff via share buybacks since 2007, says a Bloomberg analysis.

Among the biggest beneficiaries will be chairman Ian Taylor ( pictured), a Tory donor who gave £350,000 to the Remain campaign and withdrew his name from consideration for a knighthood in 2016 amid a row over Vitol operations. The 62year- old London-born tycoon has turned a modest Dutch fuel dealer into a global giant.

Vitol’s teams trade around 7m barrels of oil per day, generating sales north of £200bn and vast rewards through control of key global markets. It is now thought to be worth more than £ 15bn – trading enough fuel every day to supply Germany, France, Spain and the UK.

However, last year’s payout came despite a reported 25pc drop in profits last year to around £ 1.1bn. Recovering oil prices and a shift in market structure have made it harder to squeeze margins out of buyers. Taylor said this year: ‘It is pretty bloody tough. It’s probably very good for the world that the oil price is in a very nice sweet spot. However, that’s not very good for trading.’ Oil is now at around $70 per barrel after falling to below $40 per barrel in 2015. Cuts in production from Opec members to shore up the oil price also make life tougher.

Rival Trafigura also posted a 22pc drop in profits to September last year, while Glencore is shielded by its mining arm.

Taylor, who is thought to be worth £185m and is credited with rescuing the Harris Tweed industry through his investment in producer Harris Tweed Hebrides, stepped down as chief executive this year to become chairman, to be replaced by Russell Hardy, a long-time ally.

Taylor asked not to be considered for a knighthood in 2016 amid controversy after the company was fined £13m in 2007, admitting illicit payments to the Iraqi state oil company, and in 2012 trading oil with Iran in defiance of EU sanctions.

Vitol’s payout to staff in 2016 was even bigger: about £1.4bn.