Featured Analysis

The GLONASS Satellite Navigation Station is a possible Russian Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) facility located in the country of Nicaragua on the southwest edge of the capital city of Managua. See Preview

Brazilian state authorities are committed to combat drug trafficking in Amazon region, the main area for drugs entrance into Brazilian territory. Due to Amazon forest density, terrain conditions and poor road communications, transportation of people and goods are done most via air and rivers. See Preview

GEOINT analysis revealed four Type 094 SSBNs berthed at the probable submarine piers at Longpo Naval Base on 4 March 2017, supporting multiple reports asserting China has four Type 094 SSBNs in service. See Preview

GEOINT analysis confirms Japan constructed a facility dedicated to the excavation, secured storage, and destruction of abandoned chemical weapons (ACW) at Ha’erbaling. This is a Preview of the AllSource Geospatial Intelligence Channel See Preview

The Zhoushan storage facility is being developed on the island of Waidiao Shan (Wai Island), 153 kilometers (km) southeast of Shanghai and 500 meters (m) off the western shore of Zhoushan Qundao, on China’s east coast. When complete, the facility will have a capacity of 3.16 million cubic meters.

LNG receiving terminals are at the delivery end of each shipment. A receiving terminal typically has unloading berths for the carrier vessels, heavily-insulated LNG storage tanks, and facilities to re-gasify the LNG into natural gas for delivery to end users. The report shows the locations of receiving terminals associated with each customer and provides information about each terminal.

This report examines Subi Reef and Thitu Island over a ten-year period, providing comparative geospatial analysis for each location and assessing the strategic significance of China’s work at Subi Reef. Recent imagery shows that China has reclaimed an area at Subi Reef about six times larger than Thitu Island and is conducting extensive construction throughout this reclaimed area.

The Shah Deniz field is located roughly 70km southeast of Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Caspian Sea. Stage One of Shah Deniz field begun producing in 2006. The Sangachal Terminal just northeast of Sangachal, Azerbaijan, is the primary onshore terminal for BP and Shah Deniz partners. The terminal is also the first pumping station for the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline.

Pakistan’s Gwadar Port is the transport hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China’s planned $46 billion infrastructure investment linking Pakistan’s southern coast to China’s Xinjiang province. Gwadar Port provides China with an alternate trade route to the Indian Ocean and potentially shortens its energy supply chain distance by thousands of kilometers. While most CPEC projects are projected for completion between 2018 and 2030, according to imagery analysis Gwadar Port is currently operational.

The facility itself, which is Yemen’s only LNG plant, covers 20 square kilometers of land on the Gulf of Aden and consists of two, C3MR (propane pre-cooled mixed refrigerant), Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), trains which can produce 6.7 million metric tons per year of liquefied natural gas. The terminal features a shipping berth capable of servicing vessels with capacities of 70,000- 205,000 cubic feet.

Canada - Goldcorp’s Eleonore property is approximately 193 square kilometers and is composed of 369 contiguous claims within the Roberto gold deposit. Eleonore’s gold mineralization runs vertically to a depth of approximately 1,400 meters, and gold reserves have been estimated at approximately 4.03 million ounces. Goldcorp has invested approximately $1.8 billion to develop Eleonore mine, which has an expected production period of 15 years.

The western-most study area, in Andrews County, approximately 80 miles southwest of Lubbock, Texas, has considerable new exploration activity apparent when comparing the November 27, 2013 and September 28, 2014 time-frame of available imagery. This area has 7 leases recorded in the Bureau of Economic Geology database, see figure 3. The noted activity included new sections of road, three new storage tanks, three new sections of pipelines and increased activity at a gravel processing facility. Additionally three storage tanks were also removed.

China has challenged the primacy of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank by financing projects in underdeveloped countries in Africa in exchange for raw materials and oil needed to fuel its growing domestic industrial base. Financial observers speculate that China is capitalizing on the U.S. reluctance to finance projects in unstable areas of the world. This study will focus on construction activity in Djibouti financed by Chinese banks. Additionally, it will discuss other projects that have a nexus to those with Chinese financing.

China has constructed natural gas and oil processing, storage, and transport infrastructure in Kyaukpyu, Myanmar, to develop alternative national energy transport routes between the Middle East and western China via the Indian Ocean. This report identifies these facilities and analyzes their strategic significance. Recent imagery shows that construction of an onshore gas terminal and an oil storage and transshipment facility in Kyaukpyu are most likely.

A train is a conglomeration of locomotives and a mixture of cars, going to different destinations and passing over rails operated by a number of companies. The efficiency of the operations is based on keeping the cars moving towards their final destination and minimizing dwell time in the yard awaiting movement or repair. The Bailey Yard utilizes 17 receiving and 16 departing tracks and handles 14,000 rail cars daily. The east and west “hump” yards switch 3,000 rail cars per day. A train can be “broken up and reclassified, or serviced, inspected, and sent on its way under schedules as tight as 90 minutes.