Risky oil supply deal pays off for Vitol - FT.com

It started with a phone call from Qatar. “Are you interested in selling a cargo of crude from the Libyan rebels and, in exchange, supplying them with fuel?” a Doha-based official asked.

Vitol, the world’s largest oil trader, said yes.

Over the following five months what started as a one-off deal to swap crude for gasoline and diesel rapidly evolved into a $1bn business that fuelled the ragtag Benghazi-based rebel army’s progress towards Tripoli, the capital.

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