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Petroleum Supplier Due-Diligence Checklist

Twenty-five plain-language questions any serious buyer should ask any counterparty — including us — before signing an SPA or releasing a down-payment. Distilled from our internal KYC matrix. Share it freely, run it on every supplier you evaluate.

25 questions · 6 sectionsNo sign-up · No e-mail capture

1 · Legal identity & registration

Confirm the supplier exists as a real legal person in a real jurisdiction — not a PO box or a shell.

  • Q1.1
    Do you have their full legal name, registration / RCCM / OHADA / corporate number, and the date & jurisdiction of incorporation?
  • Q1.2
    Can you independently verify the registration on the public registry of that jurisdiction (not on a document they send you)?
  • Q1.3
    Does their physical address resolve to a real office on map services, with matching photos from at least two independent sources?
  • Q1.4
    Is the website domain registered for more than 12 months, in the company name or a plausible corporate registrar — not a privacy-masked one-year anonymous WHOIS?

2 · Licensing & regulatory status

Match every commercial claim against a verifiable regulatory document issued by the competent authority.

  • Q2.1
    Do they hold an explicit import and/or distribution license from the national regulator (e.g. MINEE for Cameroon), with an arrêté number and issue date you can cite?
  • Q2.2
    Can you call the regulator directly (public published number, not one they provide) and confirm the license holder, reference and validity?
  • Q2.3
    Is their tax identifier (NIU / NIF / IF) quoted consistently across invoices, e-mail signatures, letterhead and the public registry?
  • Q2.4
    Have they provided a tax-compliance certificate (attestation de conformité fiscale) dated within the last 90 days?

3 · Physical supply-chain evidence

Paper and promises are not supply. Look for tangible proof the counterparty can actually move cargoes.

  • Q3.1
    Can they identify — in writing — which refinery, trading house or storage terminal their cargoes originate from?
  • Q3.2
    Do they provide a credible Letter of Intent (LOI) plus a sample SGS / Saybolt / Intertek inspection report for a recent cargo?
  • Q3.3
    Have they named a specific loadport, discharge port, vessel size bracket and laycan window — or only vague "worldwide supply" claims?
  • Q3.4
    Are their photographs operational (tankers, berthing, depot trucks, staff in PPE) — and reverse-image-search clean (i.e. not stolen from Google)?

4 · Commercial terms discipline

The way a supplier handles quotes, Incoterms and the SPA predicts how they will handle your money.

  • Q4.1
    Do they propose a specific Incoterm 2020 (CIF, CFR, FOB, DAP, Ex-Depot) — or dodge the question?
  • Q4.2
    Does their quote reference a recognised benchmark (PLATT’S European Market Scan, Argus, or similar) and publish the premium / discount transparently?
  • Q4.3
    Do they send a full draft SPA (Sale & Purchase Agreement) — not just a one-page ICPO and a wiring instruction?
  • Q4.4
    Is the SPA silent on penalties, force majeure, quantity tolerances and dispute resolution — or does it specify them explicitly?

5 · Banking & payment controls

Anti-money-laundering starts here. Mismatched banking details are the single loudest red flag in this market.

  • Q5.1
    Does the beneficiary bank account belong to the exact legal entity on the SPA — with a matching IBAN country and SWIFT BIC?
  • Q5.2
    Does the bank name match a recognisable banking group (not a bureau de change, money-service business or crypto on-ramp)?
  • Q5.3
    Do they refuse to accept any "advance fee", "reservation fee", "activation fee" or "berthing deposit" outside the signed SPA?
  • Q5.4
    Have they provided at least one recent bank reference letter (ideally on bank letterhead, addressed to your company by name)?

6 · Communication hygiene

Scammers fail at communication discipline long before they fail at logistics. Small tells are everything.

  • Q6.1
    Does every commercial e-mail arrive from a domain that matches the company name exactly (not a free webmail, not a one-letter-off look-alike)?
  • Q6.2
    Do the same named interlocutors keep appearing across calls, videos and e-mails — or does each new message come from a different person?
  • Q6.3
    Are they willing to run a live video call with their desk officer speaking the language of your SPA, face visible, on a named date and time?
  • Q6.4
    If you propose a physical meeting at their registered office, do they accept — or do they keep finding reasons to meet in a neutral hotel, a different city, or exclusively online?
  • Q6.5
    Do they treat this checklist as a compliment to their process — or react defensively, try to skip items, or pressure you to move faster?
LDMK

How LDMK scores against this checklist

We built this checklist because we apply it to ourselves first. Our Verify page, our Compliance Clock, our Certifications section and our KYC pack cover every item above. Run the twenty-five questions on us — and on every other supplier you evaluate.

Run the checklist on LDMK — Verify pageRequest our KYC pack