Former oil trader · cross-border
The other side brought their legal team, their operations lead and their chief executive, and I sat on my side of the table alone. I closed anyway, and I did that for fifteen years, negotiating oil and marine fuel contracts across the Americas and the Caribbean.
Fifteen years across the Americas, 2010 to 2025
2010 to 2021, at OceanConnect Marine
I developed the power-plant fuel business across the islands and ran it for eleven years, from first approach to signature.
2021 to 2025, at Hartree Marine
I spent most of my time building the desk for these regions, and I ran most of the Eastern Canada business in French, with the contracts themselves in English.
2023 to 2025, at Hartree Marine
It was a cold start, with a region to cover and nothing of my own in it yet, and when I left I was working across five countries.
The work
When the language, the country and the counterparty are all different, that is a different job entirely.
September 2009 to June 2025 at OceanConnect Marine (since merged into KPI OceanConnect) and then Hartree Marine. The first year I was a broker in oil options. Both firms are easy to look up, and the dates are on my LinkedIn. They are named here for the record only. Neither is affiliated with what I do now, and neither endorses it.
What was mine and what was the firm's. The balance sheet, the credit lines and the back office were theirs, and no supplier signs without them. What was mine was the judgment about which counterparties were worth it, the first call, the way the room was handled.
AI agents now do work I would once have needed a team for. They help me study how a competitor wins its customers, using only what anyone can see in public, and they turn an idea into a working product that people can actually try.
How I got here
I was an oil trader, and most of those years were spent at a desk in the United States, buying and selling oil and negotiating contracts across three continents.
The map traces the road that got me here. Pick any point or chapter to zoom in and read it.
What has my attention now
Agriculture. How specific crops are grown, priced, and moved across borders, and what makes one hold its value where another does not. Same job, different cargo. If you operate anywhere in that world, I would be glad to compare notes.
Other things that are true
Get in touch
Whether it is an opportunity worth a real conversation or a question about my background, this is the fastest way to reach me. I read every message myself and I answer every one, within two working days at the outside.
Or write to me directly at david@davidjfearn.com. Prefer to check the record first? It is on LinkedIn.