Opaque Reporting Of Trading Profits Is A Problem For Europe's Oil Majors

European oil supermajors have been raking in strong earnings from their trading divisions in recent years amid volatile commodity prices. Yet, Big Oil hasn’t been reporting just how strong their trading profits have been, depriving investors and analysts of a proper view of all sides of their business.

     The opaque reporting of trading profits could be an issue for Europe’s top oil and gas firms, which are unhappy with the discount at which their stocks trade compared to the U.S. supermajors Exxon and Chevron. …