The impending move into the Mid-Cont spot market would ensure that Glencore has a trading presence in all major regional gasoline markets in the U.S.
For spot gasoline, Glencore is mainly trading on the West Coast, Gulf Coast and the New York Harbor. It has traded some distillates in the Mid-Cont in the past, but not gasoline.
Midwest traders said that Glencore has yet to trade actively in the Mid-Cont so far.
Glencore has hired a Mid-Cont physical trader specifically for the Midwest trading expansion.
Recently, the company hired Travis Dorsey, an ex-gasoline trader in the Midwest market for Valero.
The clean products team also added a fourth spot gasoline trader, Lou Forman, who was formerly from SAC Capital, to trade West Coast gasoline.
Glencore is expected to build its gasoline trading base for the Midwest from scratch, and this is expected to take some time.
The company should be looking for storage tanks to facilitate its Midwest trading aspirations.
The move into the Midwest is seen as a natural progression for trading houses. The Midwest markets would provide a backstop or outlet for Gulf Coast gasoline if needed.
Late last year, another major commodity trading house, Noble Americas, made its move into the Mid-Cont products markets after buying some terminal assets from Semfuel.
The entry of the new two players, Noble and Glencore, is not expected to change the Midwest trading dynamics much for the near term. Both companies have been mostly quiet in the Midwest, looking for the right opportunities to trade larger volumes.
The general market consensus is that it would take some time for these new participants to become major players in the Midwest as they are now in other U.S. markets including the Northeast and Gulf Coast.