Harder to get into the hottest oil trader parties in S'pore

Singapore

LIVERIED Sikh doormen have welcomed royalty, literary giants and the deep of pocket to Singapore's Raffles Hotel for decades. And for one night in September they let in the global oil trading community for the industry's social highlight of the year.

But in 2017, renovations have all but shut the 130-year-old hotel, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling cocktail, and forced the world's top independent oil trader to cancel the party it hosts each year during the annual Asia Pacific Petroleum Conference (APPEC). Instead, Vitol Group is holding smaller, more exclusive receptions during what's known as APPEC week.