Mercuria’s annual $1.2 billion Asian RCF closed last month. While the downsized deal and significant margin savings suggest the trader has a strong financial position, a continued drop in its oil trading business could spell a different fundraising story for 2020.

The renaissance in North Sea oil field M&As is being driven by new flows of capital and RBL lenders backing mid-cap oil companies acquiring assets from majors’ divesting in the sector. But how much value can these often PE-backed independents and special operators squeeze from older oil assets before they look to offload — or even float them?

With banks having to implement the finalised version of Basel III (commonly called Basel IV) by 1 January 2022, regulatory requirements are becoming ever complex. TXF spoke to Fasil Nasim, co-founder of alternative fund Audentia Global, to discuss the implications of changing regulations on the commodity trade finance sector.

TXF has opened voting for its Perfect 10 Deal of the Year Awards 2019. Please cast your vote on tagmydeals.com to have your say on this year’s most landmark export and commodity finance deals.

Commodity traders have always been customers to portfolio players in the LNG space. However, as traders up the signing of long-term offtake contracts, portfolio players are beginning to sell a large chunk of their LNG on the spot market as both parties compete for volume.