Every satisfying career you were told to pursue was designed by someone who profits from your labor
Medicine: 12 years training, $300K debt, 70 hour weeks, hospital keeps 80% of what you generate. You net $200-$300/hour AFTER a decade of poverty
Law: 7 years school, $200K debt, partner track that statistically most of you won't make, billing 2,000 hours/year so someone above you can buy a third house in the hamptons
Engineering: 4 year degree, decent starting salary, then you hit a ceiling around $150K and spend the next 30 years watching people less qualified than you get promoted because they play office politics better
Finance: Sell your twenties to a bank. 90-hour weeks. Miss every wedding, every birthday, every moment that matters. Make VP by 35 if you're lucky. The firm keeps the real money
You were funneled into these paths at 17 years old by a guidance counselor who made $54K/year and had never built anything in their life. They showed you a chart of "median salaries by profession" and you picked the tallest bar without asking a single question about the business model behind it
The business model is: you create value, someone above you captures most of it, and you get a "competitive salary" as a thank you note
I'm not saying these careers are bad. I'm saying nobody showed you the other options. The ones where you keep the whole check
This article is about one of those options. I'm going to explain it in more detail than you'll find anywhere else on the internet and i'm not exaggerating. By the end of this you'll know more about it than 95% of the people who claim to do it
This is 100% free btw. No paywall. No "DM me for the rest." Everything is right here. Bookmark it because you'll want to come back to it
There are a few thousand people worldwide who make $30,000-$125,000+ per deal connecting companies that trade physical fuel. No degree. No certification. No licensing board. No startup capital. Most of them stumbled into this through a family connection and never told anyone else because why would they. Less competition = higher commissions. Forever
They're called oil brokers and they operate in a $6+ billion per day market that has existed for over a century. The world runs on fuel. That doesn't change regardless of what the economy, AI, crypto, or this app is doing
I've been in this industry for a while now and i'm going to break the entire thing open in this article. Everything i know. The market structure, the products, the pricing system, how to spot fakes, how to build a network from zero, how deals actually flow from start to finish, the exact math on commissions, and a month-by-month roadmap for someone starting from nothing
Probably shouldn't be giving all of this away for free but fuck it
the market nobody talks about
Roughly 100 million barrels of oil are consumed worldwide every single day
Power plants need diesel or the lights go out. Shipping companies need bunker fuel or vessels don't sail. Airlines need jet fuel or planes don't fly. Factories need feedstock or production stops
This demand is not optional. Not seasonal. Not trend-dependent. It's the most permanent demand that exists in any market on earth
The sell side is just as urgent. Refineries produce fuel whether there's a buyer lined up or not. When 25,000 metric tons of diesel sits in a storage tank, the owner hemorrhages an estimated $12,500-$25,000 per week in rental fees. They are desperate to move product
Both sides MUST trade. Neither needs convincing. Neither needs a marketing funnel or a 7-email sequence or a webinar. The power plant doesn't "think about it." The procurement manager buys or people lose jobs. That's the customer
"why would a company need a broker? why not just buy direct?"
This is the first question smart people ask and it deserves a real answer
Major trading houses (Vitol, Glencore, Trafigura, Gunvor) handle the biggest transactions. We're talking 200,000+ MT cargos between multinational corporations with full trading desks, in-house logistics teams, and decades of established supplier relationships
Those deals don't need a broker. Nobody is disputing that
But there's a massive middle tier of deals that fall between the cracks. A power company in Togo that needs 25,000 MT of diesel doesn't have a direct line to a refinery in Singapore. A small port operator in Central America who needs jet fuel can't call Vitol and ask for a meeting
These are real companies with real budgets and real requirements, but they're too small for the major houses to care about and too large for the buyer to sort out on their own
That's where independent brokers exist. You're connecting verified buyers and suppliers who would otherwise never find each other. You're doing the verification work that neither side has the time or expertise to do themselves. You're managing the documentation flow between companies in different countries with different banking systems and different legal frameworks
The broker exists because the middle of the market is too fragmented for every buyer and seller to find each other directly. As long as fuel demand is distributed across thousands of companies in hundreds of countries, brokers will have a job
Your sweet spot: 10,000-50,000 MT spot deals. The total commission on these is $2.50-$10 per metric ton split between both sides of the deal (buy-side broker and sell-side broker). On a standard 25,000 MT deal with $5/MT total commission, your side takes home around $62,500
The buyer comes back every 6-8 weeks needing more fuel. Same contacts. Same paperwork. One relationship can pay six figures per year running on autopilot
If you want to learn how this actually works in practice and eventually work under my brokerage, theoilbrokeracademy.com is where i train people for exactly that. But keep reading because this article gives you the full foundation for free
the two products you need to learn first
Don't try to learn the entire fuel market at once. That's how people overwhelm themselves and quit in week 2. Start with two products
EN590 diesel (10ppm sulfur). Ultra-low sulfur diesel used in transportation and power generation. This is your bread and butter. Typically traded in 25,000-50,000 MT cargos. Most common product in independent brokering by far. Total deal commission: $2.50-$10 per metric ton
Quick math so this becomes real: 25,000 MT at $5/MT total commission = $125,000 flowing through the deal. Your cut as broker on one side = roughly $62,500. One deal. The buyer returns in 6-8 weeks. You broker it again
Jet A1 aviation fuel. Traded in barrels not metric tons. Typical deal is 1,000,000-2,000,000 BBL. Commission is $0.25-$2 per barrel total. The per-unit commission is smaller but the volumes are massive. Start with EN590 though. It's simpler, more frequently traded, and easier to verify
Once you have a few EN590 deals under your belt you'll naturally expand into Jet A1 and other products. But trying to learn everything at once is the fastest way to learn nothing
how commission actually splits (most people skip this and get burned)
I'm going to be more transparent about this than anyone else in this space because i'd rather you have accurate expectations than inflated fantasies
The $2.50-$10/MT commission is the TOTAL for the entire deal chain. Every deal has a buy-side and a sell-side. The commission splits between them, typically around 50/50. Sometimes less if there are multiple intermediaries in the chain
So when i say a 25,000 MT deal at $5/MT generates $125,000 in commission, that's the total pool. As a broker on one side, you're realistically taking home around $62,500 from that deal. If there are additional mandates or intermediaries on your side, your share could shrink further
I've seen people online quote the TOTAL commission as if one person pockets it all. That's either dishonest or ignorant. I've also seen guys who've been "brokering" for years and only made $1,000 on a deal because they were the 5th person in a chain of intermediaries all splitting the same tiny commission
Positioning matters. If you're buried deep in a broker chain, you get scraps. If you're the direct intermediary on one side, you get the real money
Still life-changing money either way. But i want you doing this math with real numbers, not fantasy numbers
This is also why the independent broker model is so much better than working at a big brokerage
A trader at Vitol or Trafigura might move $500M in deals per year generating $2-5M in total commissions. They might see $200-500K of that. The house keeps the rest. Salary plus bonus. The company captures the relationships, the infrastructure margin, the deal flow
Sound familiar? It's the exact same "your boss keeps 80% of what you generate" dynamic from the intro. It exists in oil brokerages too
An independent broker doing a fraction of that volume but keeping their full share of the split can net similar money. You're trading infrastructure and guaranteed deal flow for margin. That tradeoff is the entire thesis of this article
And it's why i'm building a brokerage that actually lets people keep their cut instead of extracting it from them
The numbers i use from here on out reflect what an independent broker on one side of a deal actually takes home. Not the total commission pool. I'd rather underpromise and have you be pleasantly surprised than the other way around
platts pricing (the most important thing in this entire article)
If you learn nothing else from this, learn Platts
Platts is the global fuel benchmark. Published daily by S&P Global Commodity Insights. Every fuel deal on earth references this number. It's the S&P 500 of oil
When someone says "Platts minus $5" they mean they're offering the product at $5 below the current benchmark price
This one concept lets you instantly filter 90% of the bullshit that floods the oil brokering space. Memorize these ranges:
Platts -$1 to -$8: Normal market pricing. Standard deal. Proceed with verification
Platts -$10 to -$30: Aggressive but sometimes legitimate. Distressed cargo, storage pressure, motivated seller who needs to move product fast. This is where independent brokers make real money. But verify HARD before proceeding
Platts -$30 to -$60: Suspicious. Could be quality issues, documentation problems, or product with questionable origin. Extreme caution. Get independent verification on everything before you touch it
Platts -$60 and beyond: Almost certainly sanctioned product being laundered. Russian or Iranian origin with fabricated paperwork. Delete the email. Block the sender. Do not engage. This is 10+ years in federal prison territory and no commission is worth that
You can access Platts data through S&P Global Commodity Insights. ICIS and Argus are the other two major sources. Read their daily commodity reports every single morning for 60 days. Treat it like checking instagram
After two months of this you'll understand fuel pricing better than mfs who've been "brokering" for 5 years without ever reading a single report
And yes those people exist. Lots of them. The industry is full of people who call themselves brokers but can't read a Platts report. That's your competition
how to spot fake deals in 30 seconds (real scam breakdown)
I need to be upfront about something: this industry is flooded with fake deals. Some estimates put it at 90-95% of the offers circulating at any given time being complete fiction. Scammers, fantasists, and people passing around recycled paperwork they got from some other fake broker
I'm telling you this not to scare you away but because your ability to filter the fakes is literally the entire skill that justifies your commission. Anyone can forward an email. The broker who gets paid $62,500 is the one who can look at an offer and know in 30 seconds whether it's worth 30 more seconds of their time
Here's a real example. Some mf sent me an offer last month:
"500,000 MT Kazakhstan diesel, Platts -$48, 15 products available, loading from Rotterdam/Houston/Aktau/Fujairah, need banking solution"
Red flag 1 (the only one that actually matters): Platts -$48. On 500,000 MT that means they're claiming to discount roughly $24 MILLION below market price. Nobody on earth is giving away $24M. If someone offered you a $500,000 house for $200,000 you'd assume something was wrong with it. Same logic applies here at scale
Red flag 2: "Need banking solution." This is code for "help me evade international sanctions." Always. I don't care what story they wrap around it. That phrase means they need someone to process payments that legitimate banks won't touch. 10+ years federal prison
Now here's what trips up beginners. Some things in that email that LOOK like red flags are actually normal:
Multiple products? Totally normal. Real refineries DO offer 10-15 fuel grades because refineries produce many products simultaneously. A Soft Corporate Offer (SCO) listing multiple products is standard industry formatting. That alone isn't a flag
Multiple loading ports? Also normal. A Kazakhstan-origin refinery might offer Rotterdam, Fujairah, or Aktau as alternatives depending on where the cargo currently sits or where logistics make sense. Alternative ports are legitimate. Claiming the SAME cargo loads from multiple ports simultaneously is fiction. There's a difference
The filter is always pricing first. Everything else second. If the Platts differential is in the real range and there's no "banking solution" language, THEN you start verifying the other details. If the pricing is insane, nothing else matters. Delete and move on
Being able to kill fake deals in 30 seconds while other mfs waste months chasing ghosts is the entire skill. That's what the $62,500 commission is actually paying for. Not your network. Not your charisma. Your filter
This is one of the main things i train people on inside theoilbrokeracademy.com btw. Live deal reviews where i pull up real offers people have received and walk through exactly how to evaluate them in real time. But the framework above is the foundation and it's yours for fre
"if it's so profitable why are you teaching it?"
Because i'm building a brokerage, not selling a PDF
I'll address this directly because it's the most common thing i see in my replies and it's a fair question
Most gurus sell information and disappear. They make money from course sales, not from the thing they're teaching. I get the skepticism
My model is different. I'm building a brokerage where trained brokers work deals under my infrastructure. When you learn to broker deals through my system, you can operate under my brokerage. I make money when you close deals. Your success IS my revenue model
It's the same reason law firms hire and train associates. The same reason real estate brokerages recruit and train agents. The more competent brokers operating under my network, the more deal flow, the more commissions for everyone
I don't need you to stay dumb for my business to work. I need you to get good
That's why this article exists for free. That's why i'm giving away more actionable information here than most people charge for. The information isn't the product. Your ability to execute is the product. And the best place to develop that ability is inside a functioning brokerage with real deal flow and real oversight
Ok back to the breakdown
spot deals vs contract deals (the thing that separates $100K/year from $1.8M/year)
Two types of deals exist in this market and understanding the difference changes everything about how you approach the business
Spot deals are one-time transactions. Some cargo got delivered to a port and the buyer backed out. Or a trading house over-purchased and needs to offload. The fuel is sitting in a tank hemorrhaging storage fees. The seller is desperate
These deals close fast (2-4 weeks). Total commission is $2.50-$10 per MT, your side takes roughly half. On a 25,000 MT deal at $5/MT total, you're looking at around $62,500
THIS is where first-time brokers start. 10,000-25,000 MT deals in regions with smaller ports. West Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America. The quantities are manageable and the urgency means deals move quickly
Contract deals are the big leagues. A buyer signs a 12-month agreement for regular deliveries. It starts with a trial shipment (25,000 MT). If you deliver clean, the volumes ramp. 100,000-200,000 MT per month. The broker is tied in for the full contract duration
The contract math:
12-month contract. 100,000 MT per month. $3/MT total commission. Your share at roughly half = $150K per month for 12 months. $1.8M from one relationship
I know that number looks insane even after the split. But the logic checks out when you look at the volumes these companies consume. A single airline or shipping company burns through staggering quantities of fuel. Your commission is a tiny fraction of the deal size. It just happens to be a tiny fraction of an enormous number
Getting there takes time. You need spot deals first. Then references. Then a track record. Then contract opportunities open up. You can't skip steps. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of shit
how a deal actually flows from start to finish
Most content about oil brokering stops at "connect buyer to seller and get paid." Which is like saying "just get customers and make money" as business advice. Useless
So i'll walk through the actual mechanics step by step
A fuel buyer puts out an ICPO (Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order). This document says: we need X metric tons of EN590 diesel delivered to Y port by Z date, priced at Platts minus $X. It includes the product spec, quantity, delivery schedule, pricing, and payment terms
Learning to read one of these in 5 minutes is a core skill
You find a supplier with matching product. This is where your network matters. You've been building contacts for months via LinkedIn (i'll get to that). Someone in your spreadsheet has product that matches the buyer's ICPO
Before you make any introduction, you verify the seller. Company registration. Banking capability. Confirm the fuel actually exists by requesting a Tank Storage Receipt and a fresh SGS quality report
The SGS report has to be less than 72 hours old or it's stale. If someone sends you a lab report from 3 months ago, the product has probably been sitting too long or the spec has degraded. Fresh SGS = real deal indicator. That's one of those details that separates people who know from people who don't
You make the introduction. Buyer and seller negotiate directly. You're there to keep paperwork flowing between both sides and make sure nobody's wasting anyone's time
The seller provides proof of product. Certificate of Origin, Authorization to Sell, SGS quality report. The buyer's team can verify through independent inspection if they want. They usually do on first deals
Buyer's bank issues a Letter of Credit to seller's bank. That's the payment guarantee. "We will pay X amount upon confirmed delivery of product meeting Y specifications." This is how $15-30M moves between companies in different countries without anyone getting screwed
Product transfers. Tank to tank or tank to vessel depending on the Incoterms. FOB means the buyer takes ownership at the loading port and pays shipping. CIF means the seller delivers to the buyer's port with insurance included
Independent SGS inspection confirms quality and quantity on arrival. Buyer's bank releases payment via MT103 wire transfer
Commission gets distributed per the NCNDA/IMFPA. That's the agreement everyone signs before the deal starts that locks in who gets paid what percentage. Buy-side share, sell-side share, any additional intermediaries, all spelled out before the first barrel moves
This is the document that protects your commission and you never start a deal without it signed
Buyer needs more fuel in 6-8 weeks. Same flow. Same contacts. Compound
This is simplified btw. Real deals have more moving parts. Documentation delays, port congestion, specification disputes, banking complications. But the skeleton above is accurate and covers 90% of what you need to understand to start
which documents actually matter (and which ones are theater)
This is something that confuses every single beginner and most people teaching this stuff online don't bother to clarify it
Not all documents in an oil deal carry the same weight. Some trigger real actions and create real obligations. Some coordinate the process. And some are basically security blankets that make amateurs feel protected while doing almost nothing
Here's the hierarchy:
Tier 1: Execution documents. These are the ones that actually matter because they prove something real exists or move real money
ICPO (Irrevocable Corporate Purchase Order) from the actual buyer. TSR (Tank Storage Receipt) proving product can be received NOW with specific tank numbers and GPS coordinates. Q88 vessel specification with a verifiable IMO number you can track on MarineTraffic. SGS/Intertek inspection reports created AFTER inspection, not before. Payment instruments like MT103 wire transfers and Letters of Credit. Commercial invoices. Bill of Lading that says "Shipped on Board"
If a document is in this tier and it checks out through independent verification, you're dealing with something real
Tier 2: Coordination documents. These matter but they don't prove execution capability on their own
SCO (Soft Corporate Offer) from the seller. FCO (Formal Corporate Offer). LOI (Letter of Intent). Partial Proof of Product. TSA (Tank Storage Agreement) which shows storage ACCESS but not storage READINESS. CPA (Charter Party Agreement) which shows a vessel is chartered but doesn't give you the specific vessel details
These documents move the process forward but beginners make the mistake of treating them like proof. An FCO does not mean a deal is real. It means someone typed up an offer. The offer could be from a legitimate trading house or from a guy recycling documents in a WhatsApp group. You can't tell the difference from the document alone
Tier 3: Theater documents. These create a false sense of security and are mostly noise
NCNDA (Non-Circumvention Non-Disclosure Agreement) unless it's an official ICC document is virtually unenforceable across jurisdictions. Nobody actually sues over these. If someone wants to cut you out, a signature won't stop them. Your real protection is being valuable enough that keeping you in is better than cutting you out
IMFPA (International Master Fee Protection Agreement) in early stages is premature. This document matters at the end of a deal when commission is about to be distributed. Presenting it in week 1 screams "i've never closed a deal"
Mandate letters prove almost nothing. BCL (Bank Comfort Letter) screenshots can be faked in 5 minutes. Proof of Funds in early stages shows money exists somewhere at some time but says nothing about willingness to deploy it on THIS deal
The reason this hierarchy matters so much: I've watched beginners spend 6 months chasing a deal because they received an FCO with a company logo on it and assumed that meant something. It didn't. The FCO was a recycled template being passed around between 30 different broker chains. The "seller" had no product
I've also watched beginners refuse to move forward without a signed NCNDA, creating so much friction that the real counterparty on the other side disengaged. They protected themselves right out of a commission
The rule is simple: demand Tier 1 documents before committing to anything serious. Use Tier 2 documents to coordinate the process. And stop treating Tier 3 documents like they mean anything until the deal is almost done
the linkedin playbook (your entire network built from scratch)
"I don't know anyone in oil" is the most common excuse and the easiest to fix
I've seen people say "deals aren't done on LinkedIn" and "no real trader would talk to a random person online." Both of these are wrong and show a misunderstanding of how the mid-market works
The big boys at Vitol and Trafigura aren't on LinkedIn looking for brokers. Correct. You're not targeting them
You're targeting fuel procurement managers at mid-size power companies, port operators, industrial facilities, and shipping companies who DO use LinkedIn for professional networking. These are people managing $5-50M in annual fuel purchasing who don't have established relationships with every possible supplier in every region
LinkedIn Sales Navigator. There's a free trial. That's all you need to start
Your profile headline matters more than you think. "Physical Fuel Intermediation | Connecting Verified Buyers & Suppliers" gets you taken seriously. "Oil broker seeking opportunities" gets you ignored by every procurement manager on the platform
Small difference in words. Massive difference in responses
Search strings that actually work:
"fuel procurement manager" + West Africa "petroleum trading" + Singapore "diesel supply chain" + Central America "bunker fuel purchasing" + Southeast Asia
Why these regions? Smaller ports. They can't handle supertankers so they need 10,000-25,000 MT cargos. Smaller cargos = way easier first deal for a new broker
Save every relevant profile. 200+ targets before you send a single message
Outreach: 5 messages per day. Personalized. Reference their company and their region. And this is critical: do not pitch anything. Ever. Not on the first message. Not on the fifth
"Hi [name], I work in physical fuel intermediation focusing on [their region]. Currently building relationships with procurement teams handling EN590 and Jet A1 requirements. Would love to understand your supply needs. Happy to share market intelligence on current Platts differentials in your area."
10-15% response rate on that message. Which means after a few months of consistent outreach you'll have dozens of real conversations happening
The follow-up game is where most people fall apart. After someone responds, you become useful. Share current Platts differentials. Shipping route updates. Port congestion intel. Become the person they go to for market information
The brokers who give value get deal flow. The brokers who just blast "you got a buyer?" get ghosted into oblivion
The difference between the mf making six figures per year and the mf who quit after 4 months usually comes down to whether they were patient enough to build actual relationships before trying to close anything
After 4 months of consistent outreach you should have 30-50 real contacts. Some are buyers with active requirements. Some have product available. When a match shows up, you verify everything, make the introduction, and handle the paperwork
First deal closes. Commission wires. Buyer returns in 8 weeks
the 6-month roadmap (what to do every single day)
First 30 days is just becoming literate. Platts pricing, Incoterms, Letters of Credit. Read ICIS and Argus commodity reports every morning like you'd check your phone
S&P Global Commodity Insights publishes the benchmark everything trades against. By day 30 you should be able to look at a deal offer and immediately know if the Platts differential is realistic or fantasy
Month 2 is documents. You need to be able to read an ICPO in 5 minutes and know if it's real. What a Bill of Lading looks like (must say "Shipped on Board" or it's worthless). SGS inspection reports (less than 72 hours old or stale). The NCNDA/IMFPA which protects your commission
Boring? Yeah. But these documents are the difference between collecting your share and getting cut out of a deal you sourced
The outreach starts during this phase too btw. Don't wait until you feel "ready." You'll never feel ready. Start sending LinkedIn messages in month 2 even if you barely know what you're talking about. The conversations themselves teach you more than anything you'll read
Months 3-4 are pure network building. LinkedIn Sales Navigator. 5 messages per day minimum. Track everything in a Google Sheet: name, company, title, what they buy, volume, port, response status
This spreadsheet becomes your most valuable asset. Treat it like gold
Months 5-6 is matching. Cross-reference your buyer spreadsheet with your supplier contacts. When something matches (buyer needs 25,000 MT EN590 delivered to Lome, Togo and you have a supplier with matching product at Platts -$5), you verify everything on both sides, make the introduction, handle the documentation flow, and collect your commission
The whole timeline assumes consistent daily effort. Not 2 messages a week. Not reading Platts when you feel like it. Daily
The people who treat this like a hobby get hobby results. The people who treat it like their future get five-figure wires
One of the people i've mentored entered their first deal negotiation within 5 weeks. Not a realistic timeline for most people and there's no guarantee it will close, but the fact that a complete beginner was sitting at the table that fast should tell you something about how accessible this actually is once you commit
the math that should keep you up tonight
$55K/year salary: 2,080 hours. Someone else's schedule. Fired whenever they feel like it
$55K/year uber: Destroying your car and your back. 60+ hours/week. No benefits. The app can deactivate you overnight
$55K/year freelancing: Feast-famine cycle. Scope creep. Chasing invoices from people who ghost you. Rebuilding your pipeline every single month
$62,500 from ONE oil deal (your share of a 25,000 MT deal at $5/MT total): 5-6 months learning curve, then 30-80 hours of actual work per deal. Buyer comes back in 8 weeks. Repeat
All four people made roughly the same money initially. Only one built something that compounds. Only one doesn't need to show up tomorrow to keep getting paid
The surgeon spent 12 years and $300K to earn $200-$300/hour. The independent oil broker spent 6 months and $0 to earn $300-$800/hour on their share of the deal (assuming the deal closes, which 90% of new brokers never achieve). That gap should bother you
And the contract deal math is where it gets stupid. A 12-month agreement at $3/MT total on 100,000 MT/month. Your side of that split = roughly $150K per month for 12 months. $1.8M from one relationship
You need a track record of spot deals before anyone gives you a contract deal of course. But the graduation path is real. spot ---> contract ---> recurring annual income that makes most "high earners" look like they're working for tips
These are conservative numbers btw. If you're the sole intermediary on your side (no additional mandates sharing your cut), or if you negotiate a bigger slice of the total commission, the numbers go up. Some experienced brokers lock in $4-5/MT on their side alone. The range depends on how much value you bring and how cleanly you execute
"this sounds too easy. what's the catch?"
The catch is that it's not easy. Not even close. And i refuse to pretend it is
Here's what the internet won't tell you about this business:
90% of people who try this quit within the first 5-6 months. The learning curve pays $0. Rent is still due. Friends are posting vacations while you're reading Platts reports at 6am. Most people simply cannot handle delayed gratification at that level
90-95% of the deals circulating at any given time are fake. Recycled paperwork, fantasy pricing, people who call themselves "mandates" but have never closed a deal in their life. I've seen guys spend 2 years chasing fake deals without ever realizing none of them were real. Your filter is the skill and building it takes months of pattern recognition
People in the industry will try to cut you out. Circumvention is rampant. Buyers and sellers will try to go around you once they've been introduced. Your NCNDA/IMFPA agreement is your legal protection but it's only as good as your ability to structure deals where cutting you out is harder than keeping you in
The information barrier works both ways. The same secrecy that keeps commissions high also means it's extremely hard to learn from scratch without guidance. Most of the "knowledge" floating around online is recycled garbage written by people who have never closed a deal
I say all of this because the attrition IS the moat. It's what keeps commissions high and competition low. The 10% who push through end up making more per deal than most people make per year
It's self-selecting for discipline
If you read everything above and you're still here, that tells me something about you
what you just read for free vs what comes next
Everything in this article is real. The Platts pricing tiers, the commission split math, the deal flow mechanics, the LinkedIn playbook, the scam filters, the 6-month roadmap
I could have put this behind a paywall and it would still be more valuable than most paid content in this space. I gave it to you for free because information alone doesn't close deals. Execution does
And execution in this industry requires something this article can't give you: real deal flow, real oversight, and someone who's actually closing deals reviewing your work in real time
That's what theoilbrokeracademy.com is
It's not a course. It's a pipeline into my brokerage
Everything in this article expanded by 10x with real deal templates, actual ICPO examples, NCNDA/IMFPA agreements you can use, a database of verified contacts, and live deal reviews where i pull up real opportunities and walk through exactly how to evaluate them
The community is full of people going through the same process at the same time so you're not doing this alone at 2am wondering if any of it is real
One of the rarest things about it: you get direct access to me when i'm between deals. That doesn't happen often because when i'm in a deal i'm buried in paperwork and verification. But when i'm between deals i hold nothing back
Someone in the academy entered their first deal negotiation in 5 weeks. Most people take longer. Some take 3-4 months. But the point is that with structured guidance and real accountability the timeline compresses dramatically compared to figuring this out alone from free tweets and reddit threads
The goal isn't to sell you information. The goal is to train you well enough to broker real deals under my brokerage, where we both make money when you succeed. If you can't close deals, i make nothing. So believe me when i say i have every incentive to make you good at this
If you have the discipline for 5-6 months of focused work and you want to learn this properly with the option to work real deals under a real brokerage, go to theoilbrokeracademy.com and see if it's for you
If you're not ready for that, reread this article. Study Platts. Start the LinkedIn outreach. Everything above is more than enough to begin and i gave it to you for free
But if you want to compress the timeline, avoid the mistakes that waste months, and have someone who's actually closing deals review your work in real time, the academy is there
theoilbrokeracademy.com
Do something with this information. Or don't. Either way the fuel market doesn't care. 100 million barrels will be consumed tomorrow with or without you
But if you're tired of building someone else's dream for a "competitive salary" and you want to keep the whole check for once in your life, this is the way
I'll see you inside
