Gunvor Energy Trading is now Operational

GENEVA, January 11 - Gunvor International B.V. ("Gunvor" or "the company"), one of the world's
major independent energy companies, has now marked a new phase in its
expansion into the European energy markets by entering its first trades in
the Natural Gas, Power and Carbon markets over the New Year and extending its
trading capability across North West and Central Europe for physical Gas &
Power and Coal and Emissions across the globe.

Head of Trading, Stephen Cornish: "Operational barriers to entry for our
markets remain significant but with the right expertise and talent we have
had a great start in this respect, which has allowed us to be active on ICE,
Nymex, Global Coal, EEX and Nordpool in a relatively short time frame. This
platform will provide strong access to the European physical markets, which
we are building out to compliment our global Coal, Freight, LNG and Carbon
trading."

Gunvor now has full operational physical capability across the German
power grids of Amprion (RWE), EnBW, Transpower (Eon) and 50Hertz
(Vattenfall); the French grid of RTE; and across NCG, Gaspool and GTS for
Natural Gas. Gunvor has also established its Dry Freight operational
capabilities by leveraging the extensive market presence in the wet freight
activities of the company's wholly owned shipping entity. Gunvor is expected
to actively move physical thermal coal cargos across the Atlantic and Pacific
basins in the coming weeks.

Commenting on the announcement, Paymon Aliabadi, Managing Director of
Gunvor's Global Energy Group said: "We are delighted to have moved from
planning and preparation into successful operations, and to have done so in a
short space of time. Our European physical business is a key element of our
global strategy and we intend to continue to aggressively build and grow our
capabilities going forward. We are nearing completion on Fluxys, NBP & CEGH
for National Gas and the Dutch (Tennet) and Belgian (Elia) power girds. We
expect to extend this physical access to the Nordic grids and Italy in Q1
2010 and Central European pipelines and grids in Q2 2010 to develop the
quality and range of our offering to partners and counterparties."

About Gunvor

Gunvor International B.V. is registered in Amsterdam with a major trading
operation in Geneva. The Group has a number of other offices and entities
around the world, with Asian operations being handled out of Singapore. As
one of the world's major independent energy trading companies, it is a market
leader in the trade, transport, storage and optimization of global oil and
petroleum products. Leveraging Gunvor's trading infrastructure and market
presence, it is developing a Global Energy Portfolio to become a leading
market player in the global energy markets.

    For more information:
    M: Communications
    Stuart Leasor/Patrick d'Ancona: +44-20-7920-2317

For more information: M: Communications, Stuart Leasor/Patrick d'Ancona: +44-20-7920-2317