Energy Trading Giant Vitol's Long-Time CFO Is Leaving
(Bloomberg) -- Vitol Group’s long-standing chief financial officer Jeff Dellapina will retire and be replaced by Asia finance boss Jay Ng, the latest in a series of leadership changes in the global commodity trading industry.
Dellapina — who has been Vitol’s CFO since 2010 — will step down by April, according to a company spokesperson. Former BNP Paribas SA banker Ng has worked at Vitol for over 17 years, most recently as its CFO and head of business development for Asia. He was nominated to Vitol’s board in 2024.
It’s the latest in a series of senior management departures at Vitol, the biggest independent oil trader. And it’s a pattern that’s been echoing across the privately held firms that make up the industry.
Trafigura Group appointed just the third CEO in its history last year after several management departures, while Gunvor Group’s top executives are buying out its co-founder. Mercuria Energy Group has brought in heavy-hitters to help run the firm.
A wry-humored New Yorker, Dellapina’s reputation as a conservative manager of Vitol’s balance sheet helped steer the firm through a period of extreme market volatility and bumper profits. Earnings at the partnership-owned trader exceeded $36 billion over the past three years as an energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fractured supply chains for oil, gas and coal.
While paying out huge sums in share buybacks, Vitol has also been plowing those profits into a refining and global fuel retail network, as well as investing in upstream oil and a return to metal markets. The windfall has also contributed to a series of senior departures including board members Chris Bake, Gérard Delsad and Mike Muller.
During Dellapina’s time as CFO, Vitol maintained a reliance on commodity banks, eschewing the public disclosures that came with the initial public offerings and bond sales pursued by some rivals.
But the company did start tapping private and public capital to co-invest in a multitude of vehicles that fund natural resource asset deals. That includes refiner VAROPreem and fuel retailer Vivo Energy.
The structures, which provide access to commodity flows without exposing Vitol’s own balance sheet to what can be cyclical businesses, have subsequently been replicated across the wider industry.
The news was first reported by the Financial Times.
(Updates with details throughout)
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