INSIGHTS
Pricing basis, quality metrics, product specifications, delivery terms, payment documents — and how to read the industry’s blacklists and whitelists. The standards oil actually trades on, explained from published industry norms. No prices, no company-specific claims.
Physical crude is rarely sold at a flat number. Most cargoes price off a benchmark plus or minus a differential, fixed by formula.
Read →Not all crude is the same barrel. These specifications determine refinery yield and processing difficulty — and therefore the premium or discount to the benchmark.
Read →In product trades the specification matters as much as the product. One clause is what separates an accepted cargo from an off-spec rejection.
Read →Eleven ICC rules that fix where cost and risk pass from seller to buyer. Oil trades are dominated by the terms below. ★ Incoterms do not govern transfer of title or payment terms — the contract does.
Read →In physical oil, payment is made against documents rather than against the cargo itself. Which documents, presented by whom and when, is the substance of the deal.
Read →Most oil enquiries stall not on volume or price but on whether the counterparty can actually deliver the cargo. The checks below are long-established industry practice.
Read →Several blacklists of suspected fraudsters and whitelists of verified firms circulate in the oil trade. They are worth consulting before a deal, but each is compiled by a different operator to a different standard, and none is a final verdict. The points below are how to read them without being misled.
Read →Contract volumes are quoted in barrels or in tonnes. These are the customary factors — apart from the definition of a barrel, all vary with density.
Read →WHAT THIS IS BASED ON
DISCLAIMER
These pages are an explanatory reference to commonly used industry standards. They do not replace the terms of an individual contract, nor legal or tax advice — the contract governs specification, terms and allocation of responsibility.
