By Shariq Khan and Georgina McCartney
NEW YORK/HOUSTON (Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Pilot Co is shuttering its international oil trading business, ending an excursion into the trillion-dollar global market to refocus on its Pilot Flying J service stations and truck stops in the U.S., three sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The company, a unit of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has let go of almost all employees running international trading, two sources familiar with the matter said. It will devote resources to growing its own North American businesses, instead of trading, they said.
Known for its service stations and truck stops, Knoxville, Tennessee-based Pilot began international trading after Berkshire Hathaway took a 39% stake in 2017. The company, which is now fully owned by Buffett’s conglomerate, had hired some veteran energy traders in recent years to build up trading operations.
Among those let go recently are distillate fuel traders Anthony Hicks and Nghiem Nguyen, three of the sources said.
A handful of traders, including fuel trader Ajai Hari, are still at the firm, closing out contractual obligations with customers, including Ecuador’s national oil company PetroEcuador, one of the sources said.
Hicks, Nguyen and Hari did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Pilot did not comment on whether it was exiting international trade, nor on the trader departures.
“Our core capabilities are focused on delivering reliable fuel supply to our travel centers and customers across North America,” Pilot Energy President Gary Hoogeveen said in a statement shared with Reuters.
The company may tap international markets to meet its supply needs, Hoogeveen said.
Pilot began trimming its energy trading operations as early as 2023, letting go of 15 employees including Vice President Steven Hollerbach, after Buffett raised his stake in the company to 80%, Reuters reported earlier.
Buffett took over the remaining 20% of Pilot in January last year, following a legal dispute with billionaire Jimmy Haslam over the company’s valuation, as its pre-tax profit halved from over $2.3 billion in 2022 to $1.06 billion in 2023, according to regulatory filings.
Since then, Pilot’s appetite for the risk attached to international oil trading has tapered. The company let go of most of its international oil and fuel traders over recent months, two sources said.
Founded by Haslam’s father Jim Haslam in 1958, Pilot operates more than 650 travel center and 75 fuel-only locations. It also operates a U.S.-focused wholesale fuel marketing and distribution business and an oilfield water disposal business.
Pilot’s revenue totaled over $36 billion in the first nine months of 2024 and pre-tax earnings were about $486 million, both a decline year-on-year, according to Berkshire Hathaway’s latest quarterly report.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio)
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