Privacy Policy

Petroforum is operated by Demarco Ventures LLC (“we,” “us,” “our”). We operate the Petroforum platform at petroforum.net, a closed counterparty alignment service for petroleum trade. Questions about this policy should be directed to hello@petroforum.net.

Account information. When you apply to join the Platform we collect your name, organisation, email address, and any supporting documents you voluntarily submit (corporate registration, identity documents, etc.).

Profile data. First name, last name, organisation, website URL, role type (buyer / seller / both), and a biographical description of your trading activities.

Procedure and questionnaire data. Sellers upload or enter their full transaction procedure. Buyers complete a tolerance questionnaire. This structured data is used to compute compatibility scores.

Verification data. If you undergo BPV vetting, the resulting badge categories (e.g. Identity Verified, AML/Sanctions Cleared) are stored on your profile. We do not store the underlying documents submitted to BPV — those are held by BPV independently.

Platform usage. We log operator and system actions for audit and compliance purposes, including timestamps of key events (fee agreement, NCNDA/IMFPA acknowledgement, invoice payment).

Communications. Transactional emails sent to you and any messages you post inside a deal thread are stored and associated with your account.

We use your information to:

• evaluate your application and maintain your account;
• compute compatibility scores and present ranked pairs to our operators;
• facilitate matches and manage deal threads;
• issue invoices and record payment status;
• send transactional emails (sign-in links, status updates, invoice notices);
• maintain an audit trail for compliance and dispute resolution;
• fulfil legal obligations including sanctions screening.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell or rent your personal data to third parties.

Petroforum operates a strict anonymity model. Other participants — including any counterparty you are matched with — see only your first name and your vetting tier. Your last name, organisation, and contact details are never shared with other participants at any stage of the process.

Operators (Petroforum staff) can see full participant identity for the purpose of curating matches and managing the platform. Operator access is logged.

Where applicable (including under GDPR), we rely on the following legal bases:

• Contract. Processing necessary to provide the Platform and administer matches and invoices.
• Legitimate interests. Fraud prevention, platform security, audit logging, and maintaining the integrity of the matching process.
• Legal obligation. Compliance with applicable law including anti-money-laundering and sanctions requirements.
• Consent. Where you have actively provided information beyond what is required (e.g., a voluntary bio).

We share your information only in the following circumstances:

• Counterparty reveal.When both parties have acknowledged the NCNDA/IMFPA, each party’s name, organisation, and contact email are made visible to the other inside the deal thread.
• BPV. Email addresses are shared with BPV (businesspartnervetting.com) solely for identity and corporate verification when you initiate the process.
• Infrastructure providers. We use Supabase (database and authentication), Vercel (hosting), and Resend (transactional email). Each provider processes data on our behalf under their own data protection agreements.
• Legal requirement. We will disclose information where required by law, court order, or regulatory authority.

We do not transfer personal data to countries without adequate data protection safeguards without appropriate contractual protections in place.

Account and profile data is retained for the duration of your account and for up to seven (7) years after account closure for audit and compliance purposes.

Deal thread content, fee agreement records, and NCNDA/IMFPA acknowledgement timestamps are retained for a minimum of seven (7) years from the date of the match to support enforcement of the non-circumvention obligation.

You may request deletion of your account by emailing hello@petroforum.net. Certain data may be retained beyond your request where we have a legal obligation or legitimate interest to do so.

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or export your personal data, or to object to certain processing. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@petroforum.net. We will respond within thirty (30) days.

We implement industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including row-level security on all database tables, access logging, and encrypted communications. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we take the protection of your information seriously.

The Platform uses only session cookies required for authentication. We do not use third-party tracking cookies, analytics pixels, or advertising networks. No Google services are used anywhere on the Platform.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated by email. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date of an updated Policy constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.