Offshore Connections Research Articles

Panama Papers' offshoring network behavior

The present study analyzes the offshoring network constructed from the information contained in the Panama Papers, characterizing worldwide regions and countries as well as their intra- and inter-relationships. The Panama Papers 2016 divulgence is the largest leak of offshoring and tax avoidance documentation. The document leak, with a volume content of approximately 2.6 terabytes, involves more than two hundred thousand enterprises in more than two hundred countries. From this information, the offshore connections of individuals and companies are constructed and aggregated using their countries of origin. The top offshore financial regions and countries of the network are identified, and their intra- and inter-relationship are mapped and described. We are able to identify the top countries in the offshoring network and characterize their connectivity structure, discovering the more prominent actors in the worldwide offshoring scenario and their range of influence.

Three-dimensional joint flexibility element for modeling of tubular offshore connections

Intubular jointsofoffshoreplatforms, jointsmay exhibitconsiderableflexibilitysincethematerialsinthechord members near the intersection zone of brace-chord behave as shell-like structures. The resulting flexibility may have sig- nificant effects on the local and overall behavior of offshore platforms. This study describes the derivation of a three-di- mensionaljointflexibilityelement whichisbasedonphysical interpretationofbehaviorofatubularjointupondeformation. Theelementisdevelopedonthebasisofflexibilitymatrixand implemented in a finite element program to account for local joint flexibility effects in numerical models of jacket-type offshore platforms. Results are validated by more sophisti- cated multi-purpose software and compared against conven- tional rigid-joint models which are widely employed in practice. According to the results, the accuracy of response predictionsisimprovedwhentheeffectsofjointflexibilityare considered. This model can be used for predicting more ac- curate response of jacket-type offshore platforms.

Blurring the line between licit and illicit: transnational corruption networks in Central Asia and beyond

The anti-corruption norm in both scholarship and the policy world has too narrowly focused on the domestic and institutional context of bribe-taking and public corruption. Instead, we argue that corruption in the contemporary global economy requires a multiple set of connected transactions, processes, and relationships that take place within informal transnational networks that blur the line between illegal and legal activities. These networks include multinational companies, elites in host countries, offshore financial vehicles and conduits, middlemen and brokers, and destination financial institutions. We examine how these actors operate in Central Asia, a region that is widely identified as corrupt, yet is rarely understood as embedded in the types of global processes, offshore connections and transnational links specified in our analysis. Examples of offshore centers in tax planning from Central Asia, and partial results from a field experiment based on impersonating high corruption risks from four Central Asian states, provide evidence for how the various actors in transnational financial networks structure their dealings. We then present two brief illustrative cases of how these transnational networks have operated in energy explorations services in Kazakhstan and telecommunications contracts in Uzbekistan. Our findings have theoretical, practical, and normative implications for scholars and practitioners of Central Asian international political economy and other ‘high risk' regions.

Global money laundering and its domestic political consequences in Kyrgyzstan

This paper examines how Kyrgyzstan's two post-communist political regimes used offshore accounts to launder money and broker lucrative deals with international business partners. It argues that easy access to global financial institutions and availability of offshore markets strengthens a corrupt regime's grip on both political and economic matters and gives regime members a feeling of invincibility both domestically and globally. Offshore connections contributed to the emergence of a vast shadow economy inside Kyrgyzstan that includes clandestine hydropower exports, manipulations in the financial sector, and organized crime. The paper particularly focuses on the non-state actors who served as brokers to mediate connections between regime incumbents and international markets.

Oligocene fishes in the western Paratethys of the Rhine Valley Rift System

In the Rhine Valley System, two fossil sites are famous for their well‐preserved and rich marine fishfaunas: Froidefontaine (Belfort Territory, France) and Frauenweiler (S of Heidelberg, Baden‐Württemberg, Germany). Concerning general stratigraphy, both deposits belong to the Rupelian stage of the Oligocene.There is a high degree of diversification of the fishfauna, e.g. within the Syngnathoidei (Gasterosteiformes), which is also recorded from corresponding localities of the Carpathians and of the Russian Pa‐leogene. Aeoliscus heinrichi (Centriscidae) is the most frequent syngnathoid species and a second one, Aeoliscus distinctus, almost certaintly also is present in Froidefontaine. Both localities are furthermore characterized by the predominance of taxa with presumably southern relationships, that probably were established via the S‐E Parathethys. Several new taxa of Frauenweiler reveal benthic/mesopelagic affinities. The Froidefontaine fauna, by contrast, is fundamentally neritic and littoral. It indicates the presence of a spawning zone but offshore connections as well. The differences in the faunal composition are probably also due to the different geographical positions: Colder seas from the north may have more strongly affected the Frauenweiler fauna than that of Froidefontaine, which was in closer contact with warmer seas from the S.‐E. Paratethys.

Offshore oil and the coastal zone: A role for seaports

Abstract As offshore oil and gas exploration and production increase along the coastal waters of the United States, the benefits of economic activity come into conflict with environmental issues. For seaport enterprises, offshore oil and gas development represents not only a business opportunity for facility development and service delivery but also an opportunity to help manage environmental impacts in that part of the coastal zone for which it has jurisdiction. A research framework for understanding offshore connections to the shoreline is presented along with brief case studies of experience in Santa Barbara County and offshore Louisiana.