Oil-based commodities such as crude oil, gasoline, and diesel, extensively traded in global energy markets for industrial, transportation, and heating purposes. Their value is influenced by supply, demand, and geopolitical events.
Main/
Petroleum Products
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Code
IN0005
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Name
Petroleum Products
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Version
1.0
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Category
Commodities & High-Value Tangible Assets
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Created
2025-03-12
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Modified
2025-04-02
Related Techniques
- Criminals forge or manipulate sector-specific permits, shipping documents, or compliance certificates for petroleum goods.
- These falsified records disguise unauthorized extraction or smuggling revenue as legitimate energy trade income, bypassing industry oversight.
- Gasoline and similar oil-based commodities have volatile and fluid pricing, providing cover for manipulated valuations.
- Countertrade schemes frequently use these products in reciprocal exchanges, shipping them multiple times or leaving them unclaimed.
- Such practices create convoluted paper trails that disguise true ownership and distort the declared value of transactions.
- The physical oil or fuel shipment itself becomes the vehicle for cross-border value movement. Criminals misstate the cargo’s grade, price, or volume, creating a cover for illicit proceeds.
- Through forged bills of lading and blended fuel grades, actual shipment values are obscured, allowing perpetrators to shift significant sums under seemingly legitimate energy transactions.
- The global nature of oil markets and variable AML enforcement across jurisdictions facilitate these manipulations, making it tougher for authorities to detect the true origin and destination of profits.
- Sanctioned regimes often rely heavily on selling oil or other petroleum products; adversaries disguise the origin or destination of these shipments to evade restrictions.
- By forging bills of lading or commercial invoices, criminals conceal that products originate from, or are destined for, sanctioned regions.
- They then launder proceeds through trade documentation that appears to represent legitimate commodities, complicating detection by financial institutions and authorities.