Energy & Commodities Trading

Commercial and operational clarity for the energy supply chain.

OSL Consulting advises terminal operators, traders, and logistics companies on coordinating LPG, crude, refined products, petrochemical, and LNG cargoes — from contract to last mile.

20+ years
leading commercial and logistics operations in energy trading
Marine · Rail · Pipeline · Truck
end-to-end multimodal coordination
USGC · LatAm
terminals and markets covered
Cargo lifecycle Origin → Terminal → Vessel/Railcar → Destination
Origin Terminal Vessel / Railcar Destination
Services

Eight areas of work, one goal: protect the margin and move the cargo on time.

Each service can be engaged independently or as part of an ongoing commercial and operational advisory mandate.

Commercial & trading strategy

Structuring FOB and SPA agreements, expanding market access across the LNG, crude, LPG, and petrochemical value chains, and sharpening commercial portfolio positioning to protect margin.

Cargo scheduling & multimodal logistics

End-to-end coordination of marine, rail, pipeline, and truck movements — from terminal nomination to vessel loading — with tighter scheduling accuracy and less demurrage exposure.

Supply & inventory planning

Demand forecasts, inventory controls, and contract-compliance processes that keep cargo movements reconciled and audit-ready.

Chartering & contract negotiation

Negotiating charter terms, resolving laytime and demurrage claims, and administering measurement and imbalance controls for crude and products.

AI-enabled risk & revenue analytics

Predictive modeling and data visualization to flag revenue-risk events early — demand shifts, counterparty exposure, pricing pressure — before they hit the bottom line.

Business development & market entry

Opening terminal relationships and agency appointments, with go-to-market plans built for the U.S. Gulf Coast and Latin America.

KPI & operational process design

Designing the scheduling plans, five-year supply forecasts, and KPI frameworks that commercial and operations teams run on day to day.

Sanctions compliance & trade reactivation

Negotiating price, specifications, and logistics terms; liaising with shipping, transport, and insurance providers; and restructuring commercial contracts to safely reactivate trade in sanction-affected jurisdictions under strict OFAC, EU, and UN compliance.

Track Record

Impact measured in volume moved, margin protected, and disputes resolved.

Aggregate figures from mandates carried out across the professional track record — no counterparties identified.

Growth
20% YoY

in revenue from a redesigned commercial strategy

Volume
+78%

in annual contracted cargo volume under management

Claims
$8M

in laytime and demurrage claims negotiated and resolved

Measurement
3M Bbl

in crude oil imbalances resolved through measurement controls

Expertise

Commodities, transport modes, and systems worked with day to day.

Commodities
LPG Crude Oil Refined Products Petrochemicals LNG
Transport modes
Marine Rail Pipeline Truck
Systems & tools
SAP JD Edwards ETRM Platforms Tableau Python Refinitiv Eikon IBM Maximo
Compliance & sanctions
OFAC EU Sanctions UN Sanctions Contract Reactivation
Principal

Alba Melendez

Senior commercial operations and supply-chain professional with extensive experience coordinating physical crude oil, refined products, NGL and petrochemical movements across pipelines, marine terminals, vessels, rail and trucking. Proven experience in crude shipping and scheduling, refinery supply, pipeline transportation agreements, terminal coordination, contract volumes, cargo documentation, counterparties, tariffs, invoicing and reconciliation. Combines deep hydrocarbon operations knowledge with commercial analysis, forecasting, SAP/ETRM systems and data analytics to improve movement reliability, cost efficiency and operational decision-making.

  • UT Austin, TexasPostgraduate Program, Data Science with Generative AI: Applications to Business
  • IESA, VenezuelaExecutive Advanced Management Program
  • Universidad Fco. de MirandaSpecialist, Refining & Process Engineering
  • Universidad de Los AndesChemical Engineering (BS)
About OSL Consulting

Engineering training, a trader's judgment, an operator's execution.

OSL Consulting grew out of a career built at the intersection of process engineering, commercialization, and logistics: FOB cargo scheduling, terminal management, vessel chartering, and coordination with traders, inspectors, and accounting teams inside fast-paced energy trading environments.

That track record includes building commercial and logistics departments from the ground up, administering multimillion-dollar contracts, and, more recently, applying predictive analytics and AI models to anticipate commercial risk before it materializes.

The result is an advisory practice that combines technical rigor, commercial judgment, and operational execution — without relying on a single discipline to solve problems that rarely belong to just one.

English — Fluent
Spanish — Native
Portuguese — Professional
Contact

A scheduling, chartering, or commercial-strategy mandate on the horizon?

Tell me about the operational or commercial challenge you're facing. I respond personally to every message to define scope and next steps.

almelendez@oslamericas.com