BGN Emerges as Key Trader in Kazakhstan’s Crude Oil Exports
(Bloomberg) — BGN, a little-known trading house with Turkish roots, has emerged as one of the top players in the market for Kazakhstan’s crude oil exports.
Run by Turkish businesswoman Rüya Bayegan, BGN has become one of the biggest merchants of Kazakhstan’s CPC Blend, holding significant volumes of cargoes every month, traders involved in the market said. Unknown to many just two years ago, the rise of BGN has been partly driven by recent agreements with Kazakh state-owned producer KazMunayGas.
BGN said in response to questions that it has a longstanding relationship with KMG, but doesn’t comment on commercially sensitive trading volumes.
The firm’s growing presence in the Mediterranean crude market, where CPC is the most important grade, underscores a rapid global expansion that also involves gas and metals. The privately held company already trades around 250 million barrels of crude annually, ranking it among the six largest independent oil traders by volume, according to data provided by the firm.
Kazakh crude exports loaded from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast have become a crucial lifeline for European refineries since the Iran War snarled flows through the Strait of Hormuz. A halt in CPC loadings due to drone attacks on tankers was one of the factors that helped push up Brent crude futures past $100 a barrel last week. Its resumption on Monday added to a price retreat driven by de-escalation in the Middle East.
Founded in 2013, building on Turkish petrochemicals trader Bayegan, BGN has recently hired veterans who previously worked at Trafigura Group, Shell Plc, BP Plc and Macquarie Group Ltd as it beefs up operations to compete with the biggest players in energy and commodities trading. Like its much larger rivals, it has also been building a global portfolio of commodity assets. In one of its latest moves, it has carved out a role in Venezuelan crude exports.
Its relationship with the Kazakh state producer dates back nearly two decades, the company said. But it wasn’t until it signed an agreement last year covering KMG Trading’s equity barrels from the giant Tengiz field that BGN’s involvement in the spot market became more relevant, one of the traders said.
The merchant signed the agreement covering Tengiz barrels in 2025, and this year signed another one covering KMG’s equity barrels from the Karachaganak project, it said in response to questions.
The company declined to disclose the contractual volumes with KMG. According to information on the websites of the Tengiz and Karachaganak projects, KMG owns nearly 200,000 barrels a day of crude from the two fields, equivalent to about 11% of total CPC exports.
Exports of CPC Blend hit a record 1.8 million barrels a day in May, according to ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. More than three quarters of the cargoes were shipped to Europe every month.
BGN says it has also built a strong position in Libya, maintaining a commercial relationship with the National Oil Corp. since 2013.
Beyond crude, BGN has become one of the leading traders of liquefied petroleum gas, accounting for about 10% of global LPG trade flows, and is one of the major lifters of LPG from the US as well as the Middle East, according to the company.
The firm’s recently expanded offices in Geneva and Dubai now each employ more than 50 staff, it said. It has also expanded office space in Singapore, while its Houston office is relocating to accommodate new senior trading and business development hires.
–With assistance from Jack Wittels.
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