Energy traders operate largely in the dark
Big Oil’s trading black box
Energy trading is an opaque business, but automated and centralised data processing systems could help lift the lid on the market’s best prices
Of the thousands of investors that attended the AGMs of Shell and BP this year, many may have hoped to gain greater insight into the extent to which energy trading has contributed to the oil majors’ bumper profits. Yet again, they will have been left without a great amount of insight. The fact is the precise impacts that trading divisions have on the bottom lines of the energy titans are hard to accurately glean. Energy trading has been called ‘black box’ of European energy conglomerates—the opaque, yet apparently highly lucrative, arm of the business of which shareholders have little understanding. This begs the question: why keep investors in the dark? After all, with big oil embarking o
Also in this section
20 March 2026
Attacks on key oil and LNG assets across the Gulf mean a prolonged supply disruption, with damage to Qatar’s export capacity undermining confidence in the global gas system
20 March 2026
The US may be systemically stripping Russia of key geopolitical allies, but Moscow can reap rewards from the Hormuz crisis, both in the short and long term
20 March 2026
Disruptions to Qatari LNG exports have highlighted the risks of concentrated supply, potentially strengthening the long-term position of US exporters despite limited near-term flexibility
20 March 2026
The extent of the US-Israel war with Iran means there will be no going back to the previous market equilibrium no matter how the conflict ends
