Vitol controversies
Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.
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2024
Trader corruption conviction
A Vitol trader was convicted in the United States in a corruption case involving more than $1 million in bribes to officials in Ecuador and Mexico.
2020
Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico bribery case
U.S. and Brazilian authorities investigated schemes involving bribes to officials in Brazil, Ecuador and Mexico. Vitol agreed to a combined criminal penalty of $135 million to resolve the matter.
2018
French gas-market manipulation sanction
France’s energy regulator fined VITOL S.A. €5 million for market manipulation at the Southern French virtual gas trading point. The sanction was later upheld by the French Council of State.
2012
Alleged Iranian fuel-sanctions circumvention
Reports alleged that Vitol bought Iranian fuel oil through a ship-to-ship transfer and resold it to Chinese buyers while operating from Switzerland, which was outside some relevant sanctions regimes at the time.
2007
Iraqi oil-for-food violations
Vitol pleaded guilty in New York to grand larceny for paying surcharges to Iraq’s national oil company and circumventing the United Nations oil-for-food arrangements. The company paid restitution.
1995
Alleged payment linked to Serbian oil transaction
Journalistic reporting alleged that Vitol secretly paid money to Serbian war criminal Arkan in connection with an oil-company transaction. Vitol denied the allegations and stated that no government agency had prosecuted it over the matter.