Vitol’s Ian Taylor will step down as CEO and continue as chairman, the company said on March 15, naming a long-time ally and insider, Russell Hardy, as the new group CEO.
Taylor said two years ago he was battling cancer although he continued to travel the world, chasing deals from Africa to the U.S. and Australia while also working as chairman of the board of trustees for London’s Royal Opera House.
Hardy, who started his career at BP (NYSE: BP) and traded fuel oil, was long seen as one of two front-runners to succeed Taylor alongside another Vitol veteran Chris Bake.
Vitol said in a statement that Hardy joined the firm in 1993 and held a number of trading and management roles in Singapore and London.
Trading over 7 million barrels of oil per day, Vitol remains a privately held company.
Taylor said there was no plan to turn Vitol into a public company, but this year the firm will launch IPOs for two of its downstream joint-venture subsidiaries—Vivo Energy and Varo Energy.
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