Iman Panahi founded PETROPANI to solve a problem he saw firsthand in energy trading: too many good deals fall apart not because of price, but because of missing trust between the two sides of the table. A producer with genuine supply, and a buyer with a genuine need, often never find each other — or find each other through channels that add risk instead of removing it.
Iman's path into energy trading started long before PETROPANI. With a bachelor's degree in Petroleum Process Design Engineering, a master's in Advanced Chemical Engineering, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering, his academic background sits directly inside the industry he now trades in — not adjacent to it. That technical depth shaped a conviction early on: understanding how refinery and petrochemical products are actually processed, graded, and specified is what makes a broker genuinely useful to both sides of a deal, not just a middleman passing messages.
PETROPANI itself is a newer venture, launched as Iman brought that technical foundation into active trading. What it lacks in years on the market, it makes up for in the kind of product literacy that usually takes brokers far longer to build — the difference between quoting a grade and actually understanding what it means.
PETROPANI works with established suppliers and trading houses to connect verified sources of supply with buyers who need consistent, spec-verified product — coordinating negotiation, Incoterms, third-party inspection, and documentation from first contact through to delivery.
The current focus is Bitumen and Base Oil, across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — with openness to other refinery and petrochemical products and other regions as the right opportunities arise.
Iman's approach is built on three principles: verified partners, transparent terms, and no promises that can't be backed up. In a market where crude prices shift and counterparty credibility often matters more than any single quote, that discipline is what keeps deals — and relationships — intact.
Iman Panahi