March 20 (Reuters) – Global commodities trader Vitol said on Monday its 2022 revenues shot up to $505 billion, a jump of 80% from a year earlier, as energy prices surged on the back on the Ukraine-Russia war.

The Swiss firm said it delivered 7.4 million barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil and products last year, compared to 7.6 million bpd the previous year.

“Vitol’s crude oil volumes fell slightly to 199.5 million metric tonnes (from 200.5 m MT in 2021) as we exited contracts and ceased trading Russian crude in June 2022,” the firm said in a statement.

For the rest of 2023, the company expects oil demand to grow by 2 million bpd, driven primarily by the aviation sector globally and recovering demand in China.

Traded LNG volumes rose to 17.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent, due to increased demand from Europe, while European destinations accounted for 67% of Vitol’s LNG volumes in the fourth quarter of 2022, it added.

High gas prices last year pushed Asian buyers out of the market, which resulted in coal being used instead, and the company expects the tightness in LNG to continue until 2026.

Vitol said it was looking to invest a further $1 billion through Vortex, the acquired Polish renewable developer, to build out its pipeline of sustainable business initiatives.

Reporting by Seher Dareen and Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum

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