Many EN590, Jet A1, Mazut and crude oil “opportunities” that circulate by email and messaging apps collapse the moment a professional trader, banker or credit officer looks at them. The common pattern is obvious: unrealistic volumes, extreme discounts, layered broker chains, weak documentation and unconventional payment mechanics. This guide sets out eight practical tests, moving from the most obvious red flags to the more subtle signals that experienced desks watch for when screening oil and product proposals.
The methods below can be applied in sequence. Early filters remove deals that are clearly outside market reality. Later points deal with more nuanced questions around risk, credit and operational capacity that professional counterparties routinely ask before they allocate time, credit lines or working capital.
| Test | What You See In A Fake Deal | What You See In A Real Deal |
|---|---|---|
| 1) Volumes And Pricing | Large, recurring volumes for small or unknown entities, with double digit discounts to benchmarks and guaranteed margins. No clear link to actual demand, logistics or balance sheet capacity. | Volumes that match the buyer’s infrastructure and track record. Pricing expressed as a differential to Platts or Argus at a defined location, with spreads that reflect competition, freight and quality. |
| 2) Counterparties And Identity | Sellers and buyers that cannot be tied to real corporate groups, regulated entities or operational assets. Contact details point to generic addresses and personal accounts. | Producers, refiners, trading houses and industrial buyers that appear in industry sources, have audited accounts and can be traced to real offices, terminals or assets. |
| 3) Broker Chains | Multiple brokers in sequence, each claiming to sit between the “seller” and “real buyer” without any storage, shipping, credit or operational role. Commission structures dominate the discussion. | Direct relationships between principal counterparties, or at most a small number of intermediaries with clear mandates and an identifiable function such as origination or distribution. |
| 4) Ownership, Storage And Logistics | Vague statements about product “in tank” or “ready for injection” without specific terminal names, tank numbers, pipeline rights or chartering plans. No contracts for storage or freight are produced. | Clear documentation of who holds title at each stage, where the product sits, which terminal issues documents and how it moves through tanks, pipelines and vessels under named contracts. |
| 5) Payment Mechanics And Jargon | References to KTT, “screens”, “blocked funds” and screenshot-based proof rather than standard SWIFT payments, letters of credit and established Incoterms. Payment steps are inconsistent with bank practice. | Conventional payment mechanics: TT wires through SWIFT and domestic systems, trade LCs, standby LCs or documented prepayment structures that banks and traders recognise and can confirm. |
| 6) Fees And Cost Sharing | Requests for “registration”, “inspection” or “procedure” fees from brokers or small intermediaries before any credible contract, title or logistics plan exists. Pressure to pay quickly to avoid “losing the slot”. | Inspection, storage and freight costs tied to actual services and payable under contracts between principals and service providers. Cost allocation reflects standard industry practice and is visible to both sides. |
| 7) Risk, Credit And Compliance | No discussion of sanctions, KYC, credit limits, margining or exposure. Silence on how the deal fits into any bank or trader’s risk framework. Focus remains on price, commission and speed. | Early engagement on sanctions checks, counterparty KYC, documentary standards, country risk and credit lines. Questions around how the trade will be hedged and how exposure will be monitored. |
| 8) Professional Questioning | Inability or unwillingness to answer basic questions about benchmark references, differentials, issuing and confirming banks, chartering terms, demurrage or quality standards. Reversion to buzzwords. | Clear, precise answers on pricing formulas, delivery points, instruments, documentation flows and operational responsibilities. Even where information is confidential, the response follows the logic of real trading. |
In a professional setting, these tests are applied in minutes. If a proposal fails on volumes and pricing alone, there is no need to spend time on further detail. Where early points appear plausible, the later questions around ownership, storage, payment mechanics and risk management quickly reveal whether a deal sits inside the same market as banks and trading houses, or in a separate channel built around fee extraction from unqualified intermediaries.
Financely works with established producers, traders, distributors and industrial buyers that can document real flows, collateral and cash generation. In energy and commodities, that includes structured trade facilities, borrowing base and receivables solutions, and project linked capital raising where the underlying assets and contracts withstand lender and investor scrutiny. Hypothetical oil deals based on extreme discounts, broker cascades and unverified counterparties sit outside that remit.
Our role is to help sponsors and operating businesses convert credible commercial positions into bankable structures for banks, funds and private credit providers. That involves disciplined work on documentation, risk allocation, covenants and monitoring, rather than attempts to engineer financing around speculative or non-compliant arrangements.
To see where we operate in trade, project and private credit markets, and how we approach underwriting and lender engagement, visit our main website and review the services and sectors we cover.
Visit Financely GroupDisclaimer: Financely acts as advisor and arranger through regulated partners. We are not a bank and do not hold client funds. Any financing or trade structure referenced on this page is subject to underwriting, KYC, AML, sanctions screening, legal review, documentation, perfected security, and approvals by relevant stakeholders. No public offer or solicitation is made on this page.
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