While other oil giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron shy away from big market wagers, BP employs a diverse array of bets as part of its strategy. Its market wagers on crude oil, gasoline or natural gas can use both physical supplies as well as paper petroleum  in the form of futures contracts and other derivatives.

Even in the outsize world of Wall Street, this is a huge market. More than 137 billion barrels of oil changed hands on the Nymex exchange last year, making it a multitrillion-dollar market, while energy derivatives on the more lightly regulated over-the-counter markets account for a trillion dollars more, according to the Bank for International Settlements.

BP and Shell, another major trader, declined to disclose the size or profitability of their trading units, but experts say BP’s operation is twice Shell’s size and much more active in the American market. In a 2005 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, BP disclosed that it earned $2.97 billion from overall trading in 2005, with $1.55 billion coming from the oil market and $1.31 billion from bets on natural gas.

Analysts estimate that BP’s trading profits have remained in the $2 billion to $3 billion range since then, which would be slightly less than 20 percent of the company’s $16.7 billion in earnings in 2009.

Image Traders at the New York Stock Exchange as the chief of BP, Tony Hayward, was testifying before Congress on June 17. Credit... Brendan McDermid/Reuters

“They are the 800-pound gorilla in their market and the perception is they don’t let you forget it,” said Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group, an industry trading and research firm.

But that swagger has faded since the April 20 accident in the gulf.

With their bonuses likely to be decimated by the company’s financial problems, many BP traders are eyeing opportunities at Wall Street firms or with companies overseas. They are among the most sought-after professionals in the sharp-elbowed world of energy trading desks.