Top Oil Traders Get Boost To Ramp Up Volumes

Some of the world's biggest oil trading houses say they expect increased volumes this year as a fall in oil prices ties up much less capital for trading than a year ago.

Trading oil is expensive and requires big players to have billions of dollars of credit lines with dozens of banks, but a steep drop in oil prices means the value of a mid-sized cargo of crude oil has fallen from $115 million to $60 million and has therefore become cheaper to finance.

The development has a slight downside, as traders are under-utilising banking lines and banks generally don't like maintaining unused credit lines.