Welshdale.Due Diligence
Due diligence for physical oil and gas trading

Everyone in the chain is a middleman.

Physical oil and gas has a working market at the top, made up of producers, refiners and trading houses who already know each other. Below that sits a second market made almost entirely of forwarded email: mandates who hold no allocation, sellers with no title, buyers who intend to resell something nobody owns. Nothing closes, and the fees are real.

We do not trade, broker or introduce. We do two things: tell you who is on the other side of the table, and tell you whether the paperwork they sent you holds together. You pay per report. We take no commission and no position.

FW: 2,000,000 BBL EN590, FOB ROTTERDAM, MANDATE
FW: FW: 2,000,000 BBL EN590, SELLER SIDE, NCNDA ATTACHED
FW: FW: FW: 2,000,000 BBL EN590, DIRECT TO REFINERY
FW: FW: FW: FW: 2,000,000 BBL EN590, POP ON PAYMENT OF FEE
FW: FW: FW: FW: FW: 2,000,000 BBL EN590, URGENT, 48 HRS
Five hops, four commissions, three signed agreements. No seller. No cargo. No reply.
Reference lookup

A certificate on paper proves nothing

Every report we issue carries a reference number that resolves only here, with an issue date and an expiry date. If a counterparty sends you one, check it before you read it.

Try WDD-4471 or WDD-2208

What a report establishes

Who you are dealing with

  • The person exists and the passport is real
  • They are not on a current or previous sanctions list
  • No law enforcement, regulator or adverse media match
  • The company behind them exists, and who owns and runs it
  • Whether it files, trades and has any history at all
  • Whether a document is internally coherent and complete
What it does not establish

Anything about the cargo

  • That any cargo exists
  • That the seller holds title or allocation
  • That storage, tanks or vessels are real
  • That either party can perform or pay
  • That the deal is a good one

Two reports

Report 01

Document assessment

£600
Same working day
  • Missing provisions and unfinished sections
  • Clauses that contradict each other
  • Terms used but never defined
  • Names, dates and figures that do not match across the document
  • Drafting and language errors
Read more
Report 02

Counterparty screening

£950
Two to three working days, valid 12 months
  • Sanctions, PEP, law enforcement and adverse media
  • Passport validation against issuing records
  • Company registration, ownership and officers
  • Filing history, insolvency, charges and litigation
  • A written assessment, not a page of traffic lights
Read more

How it works

01

You order a report on yourself

We screen the person who asked to be screened. We do not run checks on third parties who have not agreed to it.

02

You upload your documents

Passport and company papers, through an encrypted form. We hold them only as long as the report is valid, then delete them.

03

We screen and adjudicate

Data comes from a UK background screening bureau. A person reads every amber result and writes what it means in plain English.

04

You release it

The report is yours. You decide who sees it, and you can withdraw access. Whoever you send it to checks the reference here.

Scope and limits

Read this before you buy

  • A clean report is not a clean deal. A well drafted contract for a cargo that does not exist is still a cargo that does not exist. Screening tells you who is on the other side of the table. It tells you nothing about what they are holding.
  • Screening is a snapshot. Sanctions lists change weekly. Every report carries an issue date and an expiry date on its face. After that date it is a historical record, not a current one.
  • Coverage varies by country. Some checks return "unable to verify" where no authoritative record exists. That is not an adverse finding, and we say so rather than leaving you to guess.
  • Document assessment is not legal advice. We report on structure, completeness and internal consistency. We do not advise on legal effect, enforceability or whether the terms are good for you.
  • We do not broker. We take no commission, no success fee and no position in any transaction. We are paid for reports and nothing else.