World’s Top Oil Trader Is Now A Used Car Salesman 

Vitol Group, the world’s largest independent oil-trading firm, has been startled by the prospects of peak oil demand as it must diversify operations today to survive the decade. Vitol recently formed a new business venture called Vava Cars, aiming to become “the most trusted car transaction platform in the world,” the company states on its website. 

Vitol is a top energy and commodities trading firm globally, with over five decades of operating in financial markets. In 2019, the trading firm bought and sold more than 8 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day. 

The company is getting into the used-car business with an exclusive launch of its second-hand vehicle transaction platform in Turkey and Pakistan. Further rollouts of the platform are expected in other countries in the coming months. 

“Our revolutionary new service takes the hassle out of second-hand trading vehicles and allows consumers to sell and dealers to buy with confidence,” Vava wrote on its LinkedIn profile. “We are the future of used car selling and buying.”

Bloomberg said Vitol’s launch of the platform is a means to diversify its “core business of buying, blending and transporting oil and refined hydrocarbon products amid the transition to greener fuels.” The move also outlines the firm sees doom and gloom in energy markets as the peak oil demand could be sometime in this decade: 

“While Vitol has said it doesn’t expect global oil demand to peak until at least 2030, it has already moved aggressively to diversify some of its business away from oil. The Rotterdam-based company has made investments in wind, solar, and battery storage while recently beefing up its power trading business. It’s invested in one company that converts plastic into diesel and another that uses coal to create hydrocarbon liquids. It’s also bankrolling a proposed carbon capture and hydrogen project in the U.K.,” said Bloomberg.

The launch of Vava has had perfect timing as used car prices in Turkey have been on a tear this year. Bloomberg explains soaring used car prices is because a shortage of new ones as people are using vehicles to hedge against rapid inflation as the value of the Lira plummets. 

Used Car Prices In Turkey 

Turkish Lira 

Vitol’s access to low-cost capital will expand Vava to one day become the world’s largest used car salesman. As for what the trading firm gets into next, as peak oil demand could be ahead, is anyone’s guess…