(Reuters) – Global oil trader Vitol SA has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle civil charges from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission the firm violated position limits for certain exchange-traded oil and cattle contracts, the regulator said on Wednesday.
Traders face limits to the scale of the speculative positions they can hold for certain commodities contracts. Vitol’s Houston affiliate and the Geneva-based firm violated those limits a handful of times during 2022, the CFTC said.
The settlement marks the first time the CFTC has brought an action enforcing position limits held across multiple exchanges, the agency said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Vitol, which did not admit or deny the CFTC’s findings, said the firm is pleased to have the matter resolved.
On four occasions in May and June 2022, Vitol held positions over the federal speculative limit in NYMEX and ICE Futures Energy Division futures and options contracts for crude oil, CFTC said in its order.
In December 2022, Vitol held positions over the limit for CME Live Cattle Futures, the order said.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Chris Prentice, editing by David Ljunggren and Josie Kao)
