Trafigura was formed by Claude Dauphin and Eric de Turckheim in 1993 but quickly split off from a group of companies managed by Marc Rich.

Trafigura Beheer BV was established as a private group of companies in 1993 by six founding partners: Claude Dauphin, Eric de Turckheim, Graham Sharp, Antonio Cometti, Daniel Posen and Mark Crandall.

[16] In November 2013, it was announced that Tory peer and former leader of the House of Lords Baron Strathclyde, Thomas Galbraith would be joining Trafigura as a non-executive director.

[18] Dauphin was succeeded by Jeremy Weir, who, in 2025, will assume the role of Group Chairman, while Richard Holtum will take the helm as CEO as of January 2025, according to the company's succession plan.

The prepayment facility, which provided a loan for advance payment for more than 10 million tons of products over five years, was the largest such deal ever completed by Trafigura.

[37][38] In February 2014, Trafigura signed an agreement to acquire a 30% equity stake in the Jinchuan Group's newly established 400,000 tonnes-per-year copper smelter in Fangchengang, China.

[40] In September, Trafigura completed the $860 million sale of an 80% stake in a Corpus Christi Texas oil storage terminal to Buckeye Partners LP.

[43] In October 2016, it was announced that Trafigura and Russian investment group United Capital Partners would each take a 24 per cent stake in Essar Oil, which owns India’s second-biggest private refinery in the western state of Gujarat as well as a network of 2,700 filling stations.

To mark the transfer of the concession, a ceremony was held on 4 July 2023 in Lobito, with Presidents João Lourenço of Angola, Félix Tshisekedi of the DRC, and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia in attendance.

[57] In 2013, as a consequence of the Singapore listing, Trafigura released financial statements for the first time, reporting Q1 profits of $216.1 million – up 3.2 per cent on the previous year.

[60] Trafigura sources, stores, blends and transports raw materials including oil, refined petroleum products and non-ferrous metals, iron ore, and coal.

The company has seen a surge in such exports, almost 9 million barrels of crude in April 2015, mostly for Asian markets, financed by pre-pay oil deals in the form of short-term loans that are not subject to sanctions.

[73] In 2016, the Swiss non-governmental organisation Public Eye published the results of its investigation showing how traders – especially Trafigura – prepare and sell "African quality" toxic fuel to Africa, containing high levels of sulphur that causes particulate matter pollution, damaging human health.

[78] In November 2018 Global Witness asked the UK's Serious Fraud Office and the US authorities to investigate alleged ties between the Brazilian Operation Car Wash scandal and three oil trading companies, one of which was Trafigura.

It was unclear if the CFTC investigation was related to Operation Car Wash.[81] In March 2024, Trafigura agreed to plead guilty and pay a fine of about $127 million to resolve charges of bribery of government officials in Brazil by former employees or agents during previous decades, after a series of DOJ probes into oil industry practices.

[82] In April 2023, the Washington Examiner claimed that the American government is enabling the commodity trader to funnel money back to Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

[83] In June 2024, Trafigura agreed to pay the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission $55 million to settle allegations of fraud, manipulation and impeding whistleblowers.

[84] On November 18, 2024, an indictment by the Office of the Attorney General in Switzerland was released, showing that the company had been charged with failing to prevent unlawful payments during 2009 to 2011.

After the start of the health crisis in Abidjan, the Probo Koala arrived at the port of Paldiski in Estonia where Trafigura permitted Dutch police onboard to conduct an investigation.

Trafigura officials, including Claude Dauphin and the company’s West Africa regional director, travelled to Abidjan to assist in the cleanup effort but were arrested and imprisoned by the Ivorian government.

In May 2009 Trafigura announced it would sue the BBC for libel after its Newsnight program alleged the company had knowingly sought to cover up its role in the incident.

[93] In December 2023, Trafigura and its former chief operating officer Mike Wainwright were accused by Swiss investigators of arranging roughly €5 million of bribes to an Angolan government official representing Sonagol, Angola's state oil company, between 2009 and 2011.

Banks have requested that Trafigura include an explanation of the Mongolian events and its remediation plan in the presentation for its upcoming European revolving credit facility.

Trafigura's annual results revealed that the Mongolia scandal and regulatory fines cost the group more than $500 million this year, reducing net profits to $2.8 billion.

As the company prepares for a leadership transition, with Richard Holtum taking over as CEO on January 1, 2025, and Jeremy Weir becoming chairman, Trafigura faces the challenge of rebuilding trust and ensuring that its new compliance measures are sufficient to prevent future losses.

[96] On March 28, 2024, Trafigura pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with bribes paid to Brazilian officials.

[97] [98] [99] Trafigura's involvement in this case is connected to Brazil's largest political corruption scandal, known as "Operation Car Wash" or "Lava Jato".

As part of the agreement, Trafigura is required to submit annual reports on its remediation efforts and implementation of compliance measures, as well as participate in quarterly meetings with the DOJ over a three-year period.