Approach
Capital
Proprietary capital. Bank-financed cargoes. Hedged exposure.
Matrix trades on its own balance sheet, with documentary trade-finance lines from HSBC Hong Kong. Positions are sized against capital and counterparty limits, hedged, and marked to market daily. Volume is not the objective; margin per cargo is.
The structure lets the firm perform on full-vessel cargoes and hold inventory through the voyage when the economics call for it. Banking, legal and compliance documentation is provided to counterparties at onboarding, under NDA.
Infrastructure
Live market data. Vessel tracking. A single view of risk.
The desk runs on live market data, a vessel-tracking layer built on AIS and satellite feeds, and an in-house CTRM (commodity trading and risk management) system that consolidates exposure, P&L and counterparty limits in a single view. Critical systems sit behind physical and cloud redundancy.
Risk Management
Counterparty. Market. Operational. Each governed independently.
Counterparty. Beneficial ownership, trade history and banking standing are checked before any recap, with sanctions screening against OFAC, EU, UK and UN lists at approval and again before nomination. No cargo of Russian, Iranian, Venezuelan or North Korean origin. Certificates of origin on every parcel; proof of non-Russian crude feedstock on every European product delivery.
Market. Flat price is hedged with ICE Brent and Low Sulphur Gasoil futures and with Singapore gasoil, jet and naphtha swaps; marked to market daily, with position limits set by the board.
Operational. Independent inspection (SGS, Intertek or Saybolt) at load and discharge. Vessel vetting on every fixture: ownership, flag, P&I cover, AIS history, sanctions status and prior-cargo history. Cargo insurance on every leg. Ship-to-ship transfers only with the same checks on both vessels and the origin documents in hand.
The principle is plain. Identify what risk is unavoidable. Quantify it. Carry only what the deal pays the firm to carry.
Deployment
Three lines of activity. Each one reinforces the others.
The book splits across three lines of activity, and they reinforce each other.
Long-Term Offtake
Long-term offtake and supply contracts give producers consistent demand, refiners a reliable supply of feedstock, and the firm a stable margin backbone and a continuous read on physical flows. These relationships are the gravity of the business.
Active Arbitrage
Active arbitrage trading is where Matrix earns its edge. The desk monitors crude differentials, freight indices, storage curves and regional crack spreads in real time, and moves barrels between the Gulf, Singapore, Northwest Europe and the Mediterranean when the structure opens. When it does not, the desk waits.
Spot Parcels
Spot parcel work runs alongside both. The firm buys cargoes from refiners and traders, carries them when the market pays for the contango, and places them into receiving markets at the right window. This is where freight, local knowledge and timing matter most, and where a clean balance sheet pays for itself.
We do not trade for activity. The firm trades where the economics are clear, the counterparty stands up to scrutiny, and the operational risk is one we can carry.