Glencore - debt demons
The dark days of 2015 may well be over, but Glencore still has a lot of work to do
Few companies in the extractive industries have attracted as much attention as Glencore and its towering debt. The Switzerland-based group's revenues from oil, coal and other commodities tumbled in the global market downturn. Investors even feared their shares would be wiped out if the company skipped its obligations on more than $30bn in borrowings of various kinds, much of it incurred in the merger with mining giant Xstrata. Even more dire, there were concerns that a failure might precipitate another global financial crisis. But their worst fears appear to be behind them, for now, after chief executive Ivan Glasenberg embarked on a programme of debt reduction. By October, Glencore had slas
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
