Crude oil is a material known since thousands of years. Easily collected in deposits of surface, it was formerly used to block up the hulls of ships, to waterproof clothes or to light torches. In the "Renaissance" period it was even used for medical purposes. But nothing in the aspect of this product nor in its nauseous smell let it predict such a glorious future. During the industrial revolution, the changes in habits involved a strong fuel demand for lighting. Everybody wanted to benefit from a cheap light once the night had fallen. Thanks to refining methods developed by the Canadian Abraham Gessner, oil quickly became a cheap and convenient product.

The American Colonel Edwin Drake built the first derrick in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and the precious liquid gushed out when the well reached 23 meters of depth.

Oil was then used as fuel for oil lamps, but since recently it is also distilled to produce fuel.

This is when the craze for black gold started and the discovery of new oilfields made cities emerge from the desert.

If oil became essential in the world economy, the oil crisis of the seventies made us realise how the supplying and the price stability of oil are strategic questions.

Moreover, the major oilfields are regrouped in some geographical areas with strong political instability. For the "roads of the black gold", the States and the oil companies clash with regional competitions in the background. More precisely, it is the choices of development that make energy dependence a dangerous spiral or a factor of tension.
The last issue is the threat of climatic change that will maybe push us to give up oil usage.

***

Nexi is working closely with three State companies, PDVSA in Venezuela, PETRONAS in Malaysia, and NIOC in Iran, these three companies provide us with crude oil and refined products.

All the customers that are interested in working with us will have to send us a LOI with their company's heading, as well as a BCL.