GENEVA, January 11 /PRNewswire/ -- 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

SOURCE: Gunvor International B.V.

CONTACT: For more information: M: Communications, Stuart Leasor/PatrickdAncona: +44-20-7920-2317