Sellers with genuine crude oil to place — producers, national oil company trading arms, or authorised intermediaries — consistently report the same challenge: the volume of inbound interest is high, but the proportion representing genuine, fundable demand is low. Separating real buyers from time-wasting or outright fraudulent inquiries is one of the most valuable skills in this market, whether you do it yourself or rely on a broker who has built this discipline into their process.
Start With the Documentation, Not the Story
A genuine buyer inquiry is backed by a coherent documentation trail: a Letter of Intent or ICPO referencing specific, plausible terms — grade, quantity, delivery port, and timeline that make sense together. Inquiries that lead with an impressive narrative (references to high-level government relationships, unusually large volumes, or urgency to "close this week") but cannot produce basic, specific documentation when asked are the clearest pattern associated with non-performing mandates.
A practical first filter: ask for the ICPO and read it carefully. Does it specify a real grade and realistic quantity? Does it reference a plausible delivery port given the buyer's stated location? Is the language internally consistent, or does it read like a template that has been recycled across many different "deals"? Genuine buyers, even first-time ones, can usually answer specific follow-up questions about their own requirement without hesitation.
Verify the Buyer's Corporate Existence
Most jurisdictions maintain public or semi-public corporate registries where you can confirm whether a company actually exists, how long it has been registered, and in some cases who its directors are. For buyers in major trading hubs, this is usually a quick check. A buyer whose company cannot be found in any registry, or whose registration is only days old despite claims of being an established trading house, warrants additional caution — though note that some genuine special-purpose vehicles are set up specifically for a single transaction, so a young registration alone is not necessarily disqualifying if other elements check out.
Confirm the Payment Instrument Directly With the Issuing Bank
This is the single most effective verification step available, and the one most often skipped. If a buyer references a Bank Comfort Letter, SBLC, or Letter of Credit, contact the issuing bank's trade finance department directly — using contact details you find independently, not ones provided by the buyer — and ask whether they can confirm the instrument. A legitimate bank will generally be able to confirm whether an instrument referencing your specific transaction exists, without revealing confidential account details. A buyer who actively discourages this step, or whose "bank" cannot be reached through normal channels, is a serious warning sign.
Watch for Pressure Tactics
Genuine buyers, even when working to a real deadline, are generally willing to proceed through a standard documentation and verification sequence. Common pressure tactics associated with non-performing inquiries include insistence on signing documents or making payments outside of escrow before any product verification, claims that an opportunity will disappear within hours unless you commit immediately, and resistance to basic verification requests framed as the buyer being "insulted" by the question. Legitimate counterparties understand that verification protects both sides and do not treat reasonable diligence requests as an affront.
Useful Tools for Independent Verification
Beyond direct bank confirmation and corporate registry checks, a few categories of tools can help build a fuller picture of a counterparty's trading history and legitimacy:
- Trade data platforms (such as customs and shipping record aggregators) can sometimes show whether a company has a history of actual import or export activity consistent with what they claim, though coverage and reliability vary significantly by country and platform.
- Sanctions and watchlist screening — checking a buyer's name and any named individuals against relevant sanctions lists is a baseline compliance step, not just a fraud-prevention one.
- Direct reference checks — if a buyer claims prior transactions with named counterparties, ask if you can speak with one of them. A buyer with a genuine track record is usually willing to facilitate this.
No single tool provides certainty, and a sophisticated non-performing mandate can sometimes pass individual checks. The goal is to build a cumulative picture — a buyer who checks out across multiple independent verification steps is meaningfully more likely to be genuine than one who fails even a single basic check.
Why Working Through a Broker Can Help
One reason sellers work with an independent broker rather than handling every inbound inquiry themselves is that a broker who has built verification discipline into their standard process absorbs much of this screening burden. ESA Markets applies the categories of checks described above — documentation review, corporate verification where possible, and attention to the pressure-tactic patterns described — before actively matching a buyer inquiry against a seller's offer. This does not eliminate the need for a seller's own due diligence once a specific match is identified, but it substantially reduces the volume of clearly non-credible inquiries a seller needs to work through directly.
A Realistic Bottom Line
No verification process — whether conducted independently or through a broker — can guarantee with certainty that a given buyer is genuine. What a disciplined process can do is shift the odds substantially in your favour by filtering out the most common, recognisable patterns associated with non-performing inquiries, and by directing your limited time and attention toward the buyers most likely to represent real, transactable demand.