Fuel Supplier Verification Checklist: 12 Documents Every Procurement Team Should Request

The 12-Document Verification Standard

No single document proves legitimacy — but the inability to produce any one of these on reasonable request should halt the deal. Petro Products Intermediation applies this checklist on every counterparty introduction it supports; the pattern of 'document discomfort' on items 5, 8, or 10 is the single most reliable indicator of a non-genuine offer.

Corporate Identity

1. Certificate of Incorporation from the supplier's domicile registrar. Cross-check against the public registry directly; do not rely on a PDF supplied by the counterparty. 2. Trade License valid for petroleum trading. Some jurisdictions issue narrow licences that exclude bulk seaborne trade — the licence scope must match the proposed transaction. 3. Board Resolution authorizing the signatory. The resolution must be dated, witnessed, and reference the specific transaction or transaction class. 4. Tax Registration Certificate (VAT, TIN, or local equivalent). A live tax registration in good standing is a basic operating signal.

Commercial Capacity

5. Recent Bank Comfort Letter (within 30 days). Call the issuing bank's trade finance desk directly, never the number printed on the letter — fabricated comfort letters with cloned letterheads remain one of the most common deception patterns. 6. Three audited financial statements (most recent fiscal years). Audited by a firm registered with a recognised oversight body, not a local single-partner practice with no public record. 7. Performance history — references from prior buyers, with permission to contact. Ask for two recent and one historical reference; verify all three.

Operational Authority

8. Refinery Commitment Letter or term supply agreement (for refinery-origin product). Confirm with the refinery's commercial office, not via the supplier. Note: some 'refinery letters' are issued by trading desks of refinery affiliates with no actual lifting allocation — require evidence of the lifting schedule. 9. Storage Tank Lease or Title with tank dip authorization. Tank receipts must reference the specific tank number and bonded warehouse, and must be cross-verifiable with the terminal operator. 10. Vessel Charter Party or freight booking for CIF/CFR deliveries. The named vessel must match a verifiable AIS record and recent voyage history; charter party recap should reference standard BIMCO terms.

Compliance & Inspection

11. Sanctions Compliance Affidavit — self-declaration of non-listed status, signed by an authorised officer, with explicit reference to OFAC, EU, UK HMT, and UN consolidated lists. 12. Independent Inspection Authorization — SGS / Intertek / Saybolt nomination letter. The nomination must be logged in the inspector's booking system and confirmable by the inspector's commercial office.

What to Verify Independently

Every document must be cross-checked. Examples:

• Bank comfort letter — call the issuing bank's trade finance desk directly, never the number printed on the letter
• Refinery commitment — confirm with the refinery's commercial office, not via the supplier
• Inspector nomination — verify booking is logged in the inspector's system
• Vessel charter — cross-check the named vessel against IMO records, P&I club, and recent port-call history
• Corporate registry — pull the latest filed record directly from the registrar, not from a supplier-provided PDF

Document Patterns That Should Trigger Re-Verification

Beyond outright refusals, several patterns in produced documents warrant a second look:

• Documents that share a common scanning artifact (suggests a single shop is producing the 'package')
• Bank instruments referencing branches that the issuing bank's website does not list
• Refinery letters dated on a weekend or local public holiday
• Inspector authorisations from firms whose nearest office is more than 1,500 km from the load port
• Tax certificates with registration numbers outside the standard format for the issuing jurisdiction

Each pattern alone is not dispositive, but two or more in the same package is a hard pause.

When to Walk Away

If a supplier insists on 'commercial sensitivity' to avoid producing any one of these — particularly items 5, 8, or 10 — the deal almost certainly is not real. Genuine principals know that institutional buyers must verify, and they have the documents pre-staged. A counterparty that treats reasonable verification as offensive is signalling that verification will fail.

How Long Verification Should Take

For a previously unknown counterparty: 7–10 business days end-to-end if all documents are produced on first request. Add 3–5 days for each round of clarification. Procurement teams should pre-agree internal SLAs so that verification does not become the bottleneck on a time-sensitive cargo — the bottleneck should always be the supplier's responsiveness, not the buyer's review.

Download our printable PDF checklist with verification call scripts and inspector contact templates.