Crude Oil Sellers — Connect With Verified International Buyers

The Challenge Sellers Face

Sellers with genuine crude oil available — whether a producer, a national oil company's authorised trading arm, or a seller with confirmed allocation — often face a different problem to buyers: a flood of unsolicited inbound inquiries, many of which are not backed by real funds or real intent to transact. Responding to every inquiry individually consumes time that could be spent progressing serious buyers. ESA Markets exists partly to solve this filtering problem, reviewing inbound buyer interest before it reaches you and only forwarding requirements that pass a basic credibility check.

What to Include in a Seller Offer

As with buyer requirements, the quality and specificity of a seller offer determines how quickly we can match it against demand in our network. A strong seller offer typically includes:

• Grade and specification. Named grade (WTI, Brent-linked, Bonny Light, Urals, or other), with API gravity and sulphur content where relevant.
• Quantity available. Total volume, and whether this is a one-off parcel, a recurring monthly allocation, or part of a term supply capability.
• Proof of product. Reference to a tank storage receipt, refinery allocation letter, or other evidence that the product is real and accessible — this does not need to be disclosed publicly, but you should be prepared to provide it once a serious buyer is identified.
• Origin and loading port. The country of origin and the specific port or terminal where the product will load.
• Delivery terms offered. FOB or CIF, and any restrictions on destination markets relevant to compliance or sanctions considerations.

How We Screen Buyer Interest Before It Reaches You

When a buyer requirement comes in that appears to match your offer, our team reviews it against the same credibility checks we apply to all inquiries: documentation consistency, plausibility of the stated payment instrument relative to deal size, and basic corporate verification where possible. We do not forward every buyer inquiry that mentions your product category — only those that pass this initial filter.

This matters because the time cost of engaging with a non-credible buyer is real: due diligence, document exchange, and negotiation cycles all take time away from pursuing genuine opportunities. By filtering at the inquiry stage, we aim to make the buyers you do hear from worth the engagement.

Typical Seller Profiles in Our Network

• Independent and national producers with direct or authorised access to export allocation.
• Trading houses holding confirmed cargo positions seeking to place a parcel with a new buyer relationship.
• Refineries with surplus feedstock seeking to place crude that does not fit their current processing slate.
• Authorised intermediaries representing a producer or national oil company under a documented mandate.

We are cautious with offers from parties who cannot describe a clear, verifiable chain of authority back to the actual product — this is one of the most common patterns in non-performing seller-side mandates, and our screening process is designed specifically to catch it early rather than waste a genuine buyer's time.

Documentation Sellers Should Be Ready to Provide

Once a credible buyer is identified, the standard documentation sequence typically runs: buyer issues a Letter of Intent (LOI) and then an Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order (ICPO); seller responds with a Full Corporate Offer (FCO) confirming price, quantity, and terms, supported by proof of product. From there, both sides typically move toward a draft Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA), with the buyer's payment instrument (Letter of Credit, SBLC, or other) issued in line with the agreed terms before loading is scheduled.

ESA Markets does not draft or issue these documents on your behalf — that is between you, the buyer, and your respective legal and banking advisors — but our team is familiar with standard sequencing and can advise where a buyer's proposed process deviates from what is typical.

Confidentiality and How Your Information Is Used

Seller offer details are not published or made visible to other parties browsing our site. Information you submit is used internally to match against buyer requirements and is shared with a specific buyer only as part of a qualified introduction — never broadcast broadly. If you have specific confidentiality requirements beyond this (for example, requiring a signed NDA before any details are shared), let us know when you submit your offer.

Submitting Your Offer

If you have genuine crude oil available and are looking to reach verified buyer demand without sorting through unsolicited, low-quality inquiries yourself, submit your offer using the seller form below. Provide as much specification detail as you can — the more complete the offer, the faster we can test it against active demand in our network.

Pricing Your Offer Realistically

One of the most common reasons a genuine seller offer fails to attract serious buyer interest is pricing that is disconnected from prevailing benchmark levels. Crude oil offers should generally be expressed relative to the relevant benchmark — Brent or WTI, depending on the grade and trade route — with a differential that reflects the grade's quality and the current supply-demand balance for that specific crude. Offers priced significantly below benchmark-implied levels, while sometimes legitimate (for example, distressed or rapidly-needed sales), more often signal a problem with the underlying offer and will be treated with additional scrutiny by experienced buyers and their advisors.

Conversely, offers priced well above prevailing levels without a clear quality or logistics justification will simply struggle to attract buyer interest. Our team can provide general guidance on how your offer compares to current market conditions when you submit it.

Single Cargo Sales Versus Ongoing Offtake Relationships

Sellers should be clear, when submitting an offer, about whether they are looking to place a single cargo or establish a recurring offtake relationship with a buyer. These attract different categories of buyer interest — term-oriented buyers such as refineries securing supply security are generally not well matched against one-off spot sellers, and vice versa. Indicating your preferred structure upfront helps our team route your offer to the right segment of buyer demand in our network, rather than spending time on mismatched introductions.