Brunei Shell

Almost all of Brunei's natural gas is liquefied at Brunei Shell's Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, which opened in 1972 and is one of the largest LNG plants in the world. Some 90% of Brunei's LNG produced is sold to Japan under a long-term agreement renewed in 1993. The agreement calls for Brunei to provide over 5 million tons of LNG per year to three Japanese utilities, namely to TEPCo, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (J.TER or 5001), Tokyo Gas Co. (J.TYG or 9531) and Osaka Gas Co. (J.OSG or 9532). The Japanese company, Mitsubishi, is a joint venture partner with Shell and the Brunei Government in Brunei LNG, Brunei Coldgas, and Brunei Shell Tankers, which together produce the LNG and supply it to Japan. Since 1995, Brunei has supplied more than 700,000 tons of LNG to the Korea Gas Corporation (KOGAS) as well. In 1999, Brunei's natural gas production reached 90 cargoes per day. A small amount of natural gas is used for domestic power generation. Since 2001, Japan remains the dominant expor ... [Read More]

Background Notes Archive - East Asia and the Pacific

Background Notes: Brunei, October 1998Released by the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific AffairsU.S. Department of StateOFFICIAL NAME: Brunei DarussalamPROFILEGeographyArea: 5,769 sq. km. (2,227 sq. mi.), slightly larger than Delaware.Cities: Capital--Bandar Seri Begawan.Terrain: East--flat coastal plains with beaches; west--hilly with a few mountain ridges.Climate: Equatorial; high temperatures, humidity, and rainfall.PeopleNationality: Noun and adjective--Bruneian(s).Population (1998 est.): 320,000.Annual growth rate: 2.5%.Ethnic groups: Malay, Chinese, other indigenous.Religion: Islam.Languages: Malay, English, Chinese; Iban and other indigenous dialects.Education: Years compulsory--9. Literacy--90%. (1996)Health: Life expectancy--74 years. Infant mortality rate(1996)--6.9/1,000. GovernmentType: Sultanate.Independence: January 1, 1984.Constitution: 1959.Branches: Executive--Sultan is both head of state and prime minister, presiding over an 11-member cabinet. Judicial (ba ... [Read More]

US Department Of State Post Report

Shell enjoys a monopoly on retail gasoline outlets and unleaded gasoline costs about US$1.15 per gallon. Local TransportationLast Updated:  12/2/2003 10:25 AM  ... [Read More]

Table of Contents

Smuggling Freon and Tax Evasion: Businessman Laundered Profits through Panamanian Accounts and Shell Corporations ... [Read More]

Offshore Financial Centers

The pressure exerted on the offshore financial centers (OFCs) to comply with anti-money laundering standards continued to yield positive results in 2003. Since the beginning of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) exercise in 2000, FATF has identified 23 jurisdictions as NCCTs. Sixteen of the NCCTs have either been OFCs or jurisdictions that offer services commonly associated with OFCs. As of December 31, 2003, however, of the nine remaining NCCT jurisdictions, only three offered offshore financial services: Cook Islands, Guatemala and Nauru. All three have made significant progress in remedying FATF-identified deficiencies. The Cook Islands established a financial intelligence unit; Guatemala strengthened its licensing, registration and regulatory procedures for its offshore banks; and, Nauru reportedly canceled the licenses of its nearly 400 shell banks. The USA PATRIOT Act provis ... [Read More]

Department of State Washington File: Text: 1999 Narcotics Report on the Asia-Pacific Region

Road Ahead. The U.S. Government encourages Hong Kong to continue playing an active role consistent with its international stature in combating narcotics and money laundering. The U.S. also encourages Hong Kong to strengthen the enforcement and implementation of existing laws and guidelines, especially regarding financial crimes and money laundering; to tighten business registration procedures to discourage "shell" companies, especially off-shore corporations; to introduce lower threshold reporting requirements for transactions at financial and banking institutions; to institute "structuring" provisions to counter evasion efforts; and to establish and enforce currency exit/entry reporting requirements. ... [Read More]

Multilateral Activities

Prohibition of Shell Banks; ... [Read More]

International Narcotics Control Strategy Reports

US DEPARTMENT OF STATEBUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS MATTERSINTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRAGEGY REPORTAPRIL 1994FINANCIAL CRIMES AND MONEY LAUNDERING1994 INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORTINTERNATIONAL MONEY LAUNDERINGOVERVIEWIntelligence findings from North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, South and East Asia, Africa and the Middle East confirm that another significant shift has occurred in money laundering trends and methods, requiring changes in policy and strategy for 1994.The critical aspects are the volume of non-drug related money laundering; increased investment of illegal proceeds in legitimate business, including the financial industry; and the targeting of financial systems in countries/territories (some with little or no domestic involvement in drug trading or other serious proceeds-generating crimes) to launder drug and other proceeds generated by crimes committed in other jurisdictions.In 1988, when the United Nations Convention was ... [Read More]

M) Money Laundering and Financial Crimes

In Nauru, for example, it is believed that nearly all, if not all, 400 banks registered in Nauru are shell banks—banks that exist on paper only for the purpose of "booking" monies through them. In many cases, the beneficial owners of the shell bank are anonymous and have established equally anonymous IBCs that are aggressively employed to move funds through their fictional shell banks. ...

As effective as the FATF NCCT exercise has proven to be in convincing recalcitrant OFCs to pass anti-money laundering legislation and regulations, legislation passed by the United States Congress may prove to have a more fundamental impact on criminals and terrorists who have used poorly regulated OFCs to launder criminally derived money or to disguise assets derived from allegedly legitimate sources. On October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed a new anti-terrorism bill, the Uniting and Strengthening America Act by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. The new Act generally prohibits covered U.S. financial institutions from maintaining a correspondent account in the United States for a foreign shell bank. The Act also generally requires covered U.S. financial institutions to take reasonable steps to ensure that their correspondent account holders (foreign banks) do not use those accounts to indirectly provide bankin ... [Read More]

Background Notes: Malaysia

Background Notes: MalaysiaPA/PCSource: Office of Public Communication, Bureau of Public AffairsDate: Feb 15, 19922/15/92Category: Country DataRegion: Southeast AsiaCountry: MalaysiaSubject: Travel, History, International Organizations, Trade/Economics[TEXT]February 1992Official Name: MalaysiaPROFILEGeographyArea: 329,749 sq. km. (127,316 sq. mi.); slightly larger than NewMexico. Cities: Capital--Kuala Lumpur (pop. 1 million). Othercities--Penang, Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, Malacca, Johore Bahru, Kuching,Kota Kinabalu. Terrain: Coastal plains and interior, jungle-coveredmountains; Peninsular Malaysia is separated from East Mal ... [Read More]