Essar Opens Geneva Trading Office, Expands Europe Footprint

London/New Delhi: Essar Group has set up an office in Geneva to trade crude oil, refined petroleum products, coal, iron ore and steel, the head of the new company told Reuters on Wednesday.

The entity, PeaKom SA, began operations in September and will be a global trading platform for Essar, according to chief executive Gilles Sayer.

The opening cements the company's involvement in Europe, bolstering a presence that already includes London-based traders and the 245,000 barrel per day (bpd) Stanlow refinery in the UK.

"At this stage, the company in Geneva will straddle all the commodity flows of Essar," Mr Sayer said, adding that it could grow beyond that. In an emailed statement, PeaKom said it will use its banking relationships and deal origination as a "one-stop-shop" for Essar commodities.

Raman Jaggi, group treasurer of Essar, will serve as PeaKom's chief financial officer, and Guillaume de la Ville, formerly of BNP Paribas and Gunvor, has started as head of trade finance. Tarun Naruka, Essar's former corporate finance lead and Thibaut Barthelmé, formerly of Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, are also working with PeaKom.

Sources said the office includes up to ten people, but Mr Sayer declined to comment on the number of staff.

The expansion of Essar's European operations indicate that it is looking to maintain a long-term presence in the region, which could be of comfort to staff at the Stanlow refinery in Britain who watched as the Milford Haven plant in Wales was shuttered last week.

Jobs at European refiners are at risk as analysts say more than 1 million barrels per day of refining capacity in Europe will close due to fierce competition from state-of-the-art refineries opening in the Middle East and Asia.

The Stanlow refinery mothballed a crude distillation unit that accounted for one third of its production capacity in September in an effort to save the plant. Its capacity dropped to around 195,000 bpd from 296,000 as a result.

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