Physical Trading: Crude vs LPG

For the pros out there. What is your take on crude marketing / trading vs LPG marketing / trading? What would you say is the future of both and which one has more growth potential. What is the relative attractiveness and is one more lucrative than the next (and if so, is the gap expected to narrow?). Long story short, is LPG a good place or should you hold out for crude? Curious to hear from both sides Thanks!

8 Comments
 
Best Response

I'm currently interning on an LPG desk at a supermajor oil & gas firm. We trade ethane, propane, butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline. From what I've seen - LPG is the new "frontier" as far as energy trading goes with demand expected to boom around 2018-2020.

A lot of the commodity houses have been poaching traders from the o&g firms (like mine) in order to build LPG desks of their own with the expectation in mind that the business is likely to experience a boom in the coming years. The desk I work on is slightly smaller than the LNG desk and a hell of a lot smaller than the natty gas desk but it's growing in both size and importance especially in terms of P&L and daily traded volumes - historically, this desk was focused on optimization of our firms assets and making sure our products were flowing but as the market has grown more and more opportunities to make prop profits are appearing. It's very different from crude though so its hard to compare the two.

On one had you have crude which is a very old and established desk and for the most part is pretty played out with less prospects of massive growth in the future and on the opposite end of the spectrum lies LPG which is new, growing, and has a much much smaller market with a lot less volume but the potential is huge and as a result the o&g companies as well as the commodity houses are taking notice.

Edit: Forgot to mention - currently - LPG is the same in terms of pay when compared with crude at the o&g firms. In regards to the commodity houses however - LPG traders are being hired at a notable premium due to the very small number of people who specialize in this market and the fact that demand to build LPG desks is strong and continuing to grow at a rapid pace.

"Well, you know, I was a human being before I became a businessman." -- George Soros
 

Thanks all, these are good responses. Here's another question. How would you stack up strategy roles (BD) vs marketing/trading roles. Now I know most people will probably say marketing, but here is where it gets interesting. What if BD actually pays more, at least in the medium term, because of where the opportunities are. NGL BD would be with a fast growing company, NGL marketing would be a by product that needs to move from the current company. BD gives you more upside and faster growth, marketing gives you really good exit opps and bonus potential down the road.

I think it probably comes down to preference. I always thought marketing would net you more in the longer term but I'm increasingly seeing some marketing people head into those strategy roles as they compete for some of the executive / top spots at their respective companies.

 

Dear Buyer / Buyer mandate We currently have JETFUEL, A1, JP54, D2, D6, Available On FOB Rotterdam / Hosuton with good and workable procedure, whereby the buyer will dip in seller's tank for proof of product. Kindly Contact us via ( [email protected] ) for SCO.

BELOW PRODUCT ARE AVAILABLE WITH BEST OFFERS - FOB CI DIP AND PAY FOB PRODUCTS AVAILABLE

JP54: Quantity: 500,000-2,000,000 Barrels JetA1: Quantity: 500,000-2,000,000 Barrels D2: Quantity: 50,000-150,000 Metric Tons D6 Virgin: Quantity: 400,000,000-800,000,000 Gallon

Sincerely, Mrs Alesya Balashova
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Skype: russianoilandgastradingllc

 

Possimus omnis ea dolores magnam velit temporibus et. Non est quisquam asperiores explicabo architecto ipsum. Officia ex fuga enim expedita.

Fugiat ea id odio et ullam. Ut minima et sed id. Cumque voluptatem maiores in exercitationem libero iusto quisquam. Reprehenderit ut nobis minima molestias.

Quia in aliquid delectus similique maiores ea exercitationem. Velit nostrum earum ut rerum. Nemo necessitatibus quibusdam nobis. Aliquid eos amet deserunt est qui sed.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”