Mercuria and Gunvor profits more than double on Iran war

The war in Iran has handed the world's largest commodity trading houses one of their most profitable stretches on record, with Mercuria Energy Group and Gunvor Group becoming the latest firms to report surging earnings driven by the upheaval in global energy markets.

Mercuria's profits for the nine months through June jumped 122% year-on-year to $2.01 billion, while Gunvor reported a 644% increase in net profit to $909 million for the first half of the year, according to company financials reported by Bloomberg. The results follow similarly outsized gains at Glencore, Trafigura, and other trading houses earlier this year.bloomberg+1

A Bonanza Built on Disruption

The conflict, which began in late February, triggered what the International Energy Agency has called the "largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market," stranding tankers in the Persian Gulf and reshaping trade flows worldwide. For commodity traders equipped to navigate the chaos, the disruption created lucrative arbitrage opportunities across oil, gas, and metals markets.wikipedia

"These market dislocations created attractive arbitrage opportunities for Gunvor," the company said in commentary accompanying its results. Gunvor's first-half profit was among its strongest ever, exceeding its earnings in all but three full years and putting it on track to potentially approach its record $2.36 billion set in 2022.caliber

Mercuria's nine-month figures suggest the company generated nearly $1 billion in profit during the three months through June alone. The firm has also benefited from tighter copper markets as increased shipments of the metal to the United States have squeezed global supplies. Its equity increased 33% over the period to $8.06 billion as it expands into metals and liquefied natural gas.caliber

An Industry-Wide Windfall

Mercuria and Gunvor join a roster of trading firms posting extraordinary results. Glencore's energy trading division reported first-half adjusted EBIT of $2.66 billion, up from just $40 million a year earlier — a 66-fold increase, according to Reuters. Trafigura earned $4.09 billion in net profit for the six months through March, putting it on track for record annual results.cryptobriefing+2

The path to these profits was not straightforward. Early in the conflict, traders lost billions after being caught on the wrong side of bets on falling energy prices, according to a Financial Times report citing consulting firm Oliver Wyman. But the sustained volatility and supply reshuffling that followed more than compensated for those initial losses.ft

Retaining the Gains

Both Gunvor and Mercuria have opted to retain much of their increased earnings rather than distribute them. Gunvor said it would not pay a dividend in 2026 as it rebuilds equity following a more than $1 billion payment to co-founder Torbjörn Törnqvist. The strategy reflects a broader industry pattern of using windfall profits to shore up balance sheets and fund expansion into new commodity markets at a time when geopolitical risk shows no signs of receding.caliber