Viva Energy shares have collapsed nearly 10 per cent this week, after Dutch oil trading giant Vitol sold a 16 per cent stake in the Australian company which supplies a quarter of the nation’s fuel.

The share price collapse sparked by Vitol’s block trade, which was revealed by The Australian Financial Review’s Street Talk column on Monday night, triggered the Dutch giant on Wednesday to declare it had faith in Viva management, and that it had no plans for a further sell-down. It insisted the sale was not based on inside information.