Many disputes turn not only on whether an agreement was performed, but on the commercial and financial consequences of what occurred. We help law firms, tribunals and clients test those consequences against the way physical commodity markets actually work.
Quality and specification
Whether a cargo met the agreed specification; how any deviation affected usability or value; and whether it could reasonably have been accepted, treated, blended, redirected or sold at an appropriate discount.
Quantity and short delivery
The commercial effect of a short, excess or partial delivery, including contractual tolerances, replacement volumes, operational requirements and the impact on other purchase or sales commitments.
Failure to ship or take delivery
The consequences of non-performance affecting one cargo or a programme of shipments, and whether the surrounding conduct is consistent with genuine operational constraints, market conditions or a decision not to perform.
Delay and rescheduling
The effect of moving a shipment from one pricing or delivery period to another, including changes in market price, time spreads, freight, inventory, production schedules, working capital and downstream commitments.
Market prices and available markets
The prevailing price at the relevant time and place, and whether there was a genuine available market in which a cargo of the required specification, volume and delivery terms could actually have been bought or sold.
Replacement cargoes
Whether a replacement transaction was commercially reasonable, when it could realistically have been executed, and how differences in quality, origin, volume, location, freight, credit and timing affected the replacement price.
Pricing mechanisms
Which index or benchmark is commercially appropriate for the product, destination and transaction, and the operation of quotational periods, provisional and final pricing, premiums, discounts and price adjustments.
Logistics and associated costs
Freight, laytime, demurrage, storage, handling, blending, rerouting and other costs that may arise when cargoes are rejected, delayed, replaced or delivered somewhere other than originally intended.
Hedging and market exposure
How physical exposure relates to the available hedging instruments, including hedge replacement or unwind, basis risk, timing differences and changes in the forward curve.
Mitigation and commercial alternatives
What a producer, buyer or trader could reasonably have done after the event, the alternatives genuinely available at the time and whether later decisions increased or reduced the commercial loss.
Quantification under alternative assumptions
Where requested, we translate our market and commercial opinions into transparent calculations of the resulting financial consequences. These may reflect alternative factual or contractual assumptions supplied by the instructing lawyers. We can also review and test calculations advanced by another expert or party, without expressing an opinion on which legal case should prevail.
