This guide is about bulk fuel in the United States: gasoline, diesel and heating oil loaded at a terminal rack and delivered to a farm, fleet, contractor or station. It is not about freight brokering, and it is not about the UK-style energy brokers who switch businesses between power and gas contracts. If you are weighing whether to become a fuel broker, this is the job, the first steps, and one load from quote to ticket.
What does a fuel broker actually sell?
A fuel broker sells the arrangement: the right product, from a supplier who can load it, moved by a carrier who can haul it, to a buyer who needs it on a date.
The fuel itself usually comes off a terminal rack at a rack price that suppliers post. The buyer wants it delivered, priced simply, and without chasing three companies. You are the one who holds that together. A jobber does something similar, usually with its own trucks and its own book of station and commercial accounts; for the difference, see what is a jobber. How brokers are paid is its own subject, covered in how fuel brokers get paid and the broker commission FAQ, so this guide leaves the numbers there.
Anyone can look up a rack price. Fewer people can get a load to a buyer’s tank on Thursday morning.
What do you need before the first load?
You need three things lined up: a supplier you can buy from, a carrier that can load for that supplier, and a buyer.
| You need | Why | What “ready” looks like |
|---|---|---|
| A supplier account | You cannot buy at a rack without one | Credit terms or prepayment agreed, products and terminals confirmed |
| A carrier | Someone has to haul it | Carded at the terminal you will load from, insured, willing to take your loads |
| A buyer | Someone has to want it delivered | A site, a product, a delivery window, and agreed terms |
| Your registrations | Fuel is taxed and regulated | Checked against your state and the IRS (below) |
Whatever order you work in, do not promise a buyer a date until the supplier and the carrier have both confirmed. The carrier is the step that surprises newcomers. Being carded at one terminal does not mean being carded at the next, so your carrier list is partly a map of which racks you can actually serve.
How do you open a first supplier account?
Approach the supplier the way a buyer would: tell them which terminals, products and rough monthly volume you expect, and ask what they need to open an account.
Expect a credit application and questions about who you sell to. Expect that a new account may start on prepayment or tighter terms until you have a record. Ask about allocation up front. Suppliers set a ceiling on how much each customer can lift at a terminal, often based on past liftings, so a new account may start with less room (fuel allocation); that is covered in fuel allocation and terminal limits. To understand what the supplier’s price is built from, read how rack prices are set.
Open accounts with more than one supplier as soon as you can. One supplier means one rack, one allocation and one point of failure.
How do you line up a first carrier?
Ask the carrier which terminals it is carded at, and build your first loads around those.
A carrier that is carded at your supplier’s terminal, insured for fuel and open to a new broker is worth more than the cheapest quote. Ask how it handles late loads and whether it will take short-notice work. Carriers also win steady work from other sources, which is the subject of how to get fuel hauling contracts, so expect them to prioritize regulars. Your edge with them is simple: loads that are clearly specified, paid on time.
How does a first load move from quote to delivery ticket?
A load moves in six steps, and each step leaves a document or a record. The numbers below are hypothetical and exist only to show the sequence.
Say a farm asks for 8,000 gallons of diesel next Wednesday.
- Quote. You check your supplier’s rack price for the terminal your carrier is carded at, add the delivery and your fee, and send the farm a delivered price. (How that price is assembled is in the pay guide linked above.)
- Order. The farm accepts. You record product, quantity, site and delivery window.
- Supply. You confirm with the supplier that the product and quantity are available under your account and your allocation.
- Dispatch. You send the load to the carrier with the terminal, the product and the site. The carrier confirms.
- Pickup. The driver loads at the rack. The terminal issues a bill of lading recording what went on the truck.
- Delivery. The driver discharges at the farm. The delivery ticket records what came off, and the invoice should be built from that quantity.
Say the ticket shows slightly under 8,000. That is ordinary; the buyer pays for what was delivered. The practical lesson: keep the bill of lading and the ticket together, because when a buyer queries an invoice, those two documents are your answer.
What licenses and registrations do you need?
It depends on your state and on what you actually do, so check, don’t assume.
Fuel is taxed federally and by states, and states differ on who must hold a license, a permit or a bond, and on whether a broker who never takes title is covered. Do not rely on a checklist from a blog, including this one. Ask your state’s motor fuel tax or revenue agency what applies to someone who arranges sales of fuel, and ask whether your supplier requires anything of its customers.
At the federal level, the IRS runs a registration program for certain excise tax activities. In its words, “each person who engages in certain specified activities subject to federal excise tax” must register, and “a person must register with the IRS before undertaking an activity subject to excise tax.” Registration is made on Form 637, which describes each activity. Whether your particular role needs it is a question for the IRS instructions and an adviser, not something this page can answer.
If you hire and pay the carrier yourself, ask the same adviser whether that role needs anything beyond your fuel registrations. This is general information, not legal advice; talk to a tax or legal professional before you start.
What mistakes do new brokers make?
These are the mistakes that show up early.
- Promising a delivery date before the carrier is confirmed. Dispatch first, promise second.
- Assuming one supplier account covers every terminal. Allocation and carding are per terminal.
- Not keeping paperwork together. Bill of lading, ticket and invoice should be findable in one place.
- Skipping the licensing question until a customer or supplier asks.
How Energy Connect handles it
In the broker portal, see your margin (sell price minus buy price, times gallons) on delivered, completed and invoiced loads that have both prices recorded. Break it down by product or by customer, and export it to CSV.