BONNY LIGHT CRUDE OIL (BLCO)
Bonny Light crude oil is considered to be of the best crude oil in the world because it is easy to refine as a result of the low sulfur content. Due to this factor, BLCO is highly sought after. The conundrum buyer’s face with purchasing BLCO is finding the right supplier that can actually deliver the product.
Nigeria is the most flexible country with regards to buying crude oil. However, if you are not a refinery you will not be able to purchase BLCO directly from the NNPC. It is a policy of the NNPC to prevent trading companies from buying and flipping their products. In addition to the strict guidelines the NNPC has put in to place, the fraud that occurs around BLCO and purchasing large volumes of Nigerian oil is incredible. This fraud situation that occurs in the BLCO industry has caused many buyers to be very spectacle and not willing to take the risk.
Getting a genuine BLCO seller is very difficult to most buyers. As an estimate, there are several thousand sellers or seller reps / mandates on the internet all claiming they can provide you with the “real deal”. Buyers beware, and do your due diligence. If you don’t perform a complete “DD”, and open your financial instrument up to a seller that cannot provide you with a 100% verifiable allocation and ATS (Authorization to Sell), the time lost and possibly financial loss is quite extensive.
When you accept the terms / procedures of a deal that is presented you make sure you get the following;
• The sellers company registration information as having a legitimate Nigerian company.
• Get a copy of their incorporation information and verify it.
• If you are not dealing directly with the NNPC the seller will have to be in a verifiable Joint Venture with a major such as Shell and the NNPC. This is the vehicle the NNPC utilizes to make BLCO available to the secondary global market.
• Get the sellers allocation registration codes and verify them immediately.
• Verify that the seller has a global presence such as the Asian, North American and European markets.
• Enquire and get proof about the sellers history of doing business in Nigeria.
• Due to all contracts having a confidentiality clause, past performance is mainly supported through Laycand docs.
• Most importantly, be sure the seller provides you with the ATS between the JV of the major and NNPC.
• Finally, review the SPA to be exactly what the procedures document states and review the SPA for grammar, format and spelling errors. If such errors exist within the SPA run away. A proper seller will not have simple errors such as these within their contract.
Red flags are easy to discover and if you see them odds are you are not dealing with a real seller. Never accept these documents via email. The security and integrity of this information has to come first. A true seller will never freely email a partial “proof of product” to you. We will only send this type of information via a courier door to door.