‘I’m coming into a new market where everything is possible’ – German oil trader who made US$250M on Russian crude

Apr 16, 2026 News

…says Guyanese officials very supportive; to buy quarry, bid for contracts to export oil

(Kaieteur News) – “I’m getting goosebumps… This is exactly what I was waiting for my whole life. I’m coming into a new market where everything is possible.” Those were the words of a 31-year-old German oil trader who has his eyes set on Guyana’s oil boom.

During a phone call interview with the Financial Times, speaking from Georgetown, Christopher Eppinger who made a US$250M profit trading Russian oil after Moscow’s assault on Ukraine said he would invest up to US$60M over the next three years in the South American nation, where his company Petrichor Energy was buying a quarry, establishing a trading office and would bid on government contracts to ship crude and other fuels.

‘I’m coming into a new market where everything is possible’ – German oil trader who made US$250M on Russian crude

German oil trader, Christopher Eppinger

ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) operates the Stabroek Block in partnership with Hess and CNOOC. The Stabroek Block is estimated to hold some 11.6 billion barrels of oil. Exxon and its partners Hess and CNOOC began pumping oil in December 2019, and today with four projects in operation is producing close to a million barrels of oil daily. By 2030, ExxonMobil Guyana expects to have total production capacity of 1.7 million oil equivalent barrels per day from eight developments.

Financial Times reported that Guyana’s crude production has since risen to more than 900,000 barrels per day, with consultancy Wood Mackenzie projecting that the government’s share of oil profits will total US$41bn over the next five years. Between 2019 and 2024, Guyana’s GDP almost quintupled to US$25bn. That oil boom is providing opportunities for international businesspeople such as Eppinger, who shot to global attention last year when the FT published an investigation into the fortune, he made trading Russian oil at capped prices owing to the invasion of Ukraine.

While he also considered investments in the Middle East, including trading fuel oil sourced from teapot refineries in Iraq and petrol out of the United Arab Emirates, he said his decision not to proceed had been prescient given the conflict that has since erupted.

“I think some higher force or whatever was protecting me,” said Eppinger, adding that he had no interest in trading Russian crude now despite tight oil supplies resulting from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“You need to leave the casino when you’re winning,” Eppinger said. “I was really happy with the money I’ve made and I didn’t want it to go much crazier than that.”

Eppinger relocated in January from his home in Dubai to Monaco and New York. He got the idea about investing in Guyana during a lunch with Houston oil traders who were discussing Chevron’s US$53bn deal to buy Hess, a US oil company that partnered with Exxon in Guyana.

“I was very surprised because we found a country which has double the resources of Norway and no big western trading groups were really active in that market yet. It all seemed very, very new. So, I decided to pack up and come over here,” he said.

The millennial’s bullishness echoes a sense of opportunity in Guyana, where the once-sleepy capital has been transformed into a whirlwind of construction activity. Cranes dominate the skyline as new hotels and offices are erected, while dump trucks and bulldozers clog the streets.

“Everything is missing here for now but everything is being developed, and having the opportunity to participate in that whole environment is extremely interesting,” Eppinger said. “It’s insane that nobody is looking at it.”

“We will start with the quarrying business, which is a solid foundation in a country where everyone is building homes, roads and everything is missing but now being developed.”

Eppinger said he had held talks with senior leaders in government and they had been “very supportive” of Petrichor’s plans.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Christopher Eppinger, ExxonMobil, Guyana’s oil boom, oil trader, Russian crude

Latest News