For years, Trafigura had enjoyed a profitable niche in Mongolia, which relies entirely on imports for its gasoline and diesel — largely by rail from Russia, as well as sometimes from China.^{1) 2)}

Selling oil in Mongolia is complicated. International companies like Trafigura don’t have import licenses and so can’t supply the local market directly, instead relying on local distributors. For Trafigura, the main counterpart was a company called Lex Oil LLC.³⁾