Trump bans China’s ‘teapot’ Hengli refinery over Iranian oil purchases <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nChina is once again the target of Trump administration’s action. In a recent development, the United States has imposed sanctions on Hengli Petrochemical Refinery for importing Iranian oil worth billions of dollars. <\/p>\n
As Al Jazeera reported, the announcement comes just after officials from Washington and Tehran attended another round of peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend. <\/p>\n
Hengli Petrochemical Refinery, considered China’s second largest “teapot” or independent refinery, is one of Iran’s largest customers of petroleum products and crude oil. <\/p>\n
Given the refinery generates millions of dollars in revenue for Iran amid the ongoing conflict with the US, the Treasury Department decided to target it. <\/p>\n
The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a statement announcing sanctions on 40 shipping companies and vessels that are part of Iran’s shadow fleet. <\/p>\n
US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said on Friday that the US would continue to target ships, vessels, networks and buyer countries on which Iran’s oil economy heavily depends. <\/p>\n
“Any person or vessel facilitating these flows through clandestine trade and finance is at risk of US sanctions,” he said.<\/p>\n
However, China has strongly opposed this new step of the US and termed it as “illegal unilateral sanctions”. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the China Embassy in Washington said, “We call on the US to stop politicizing trade and sci-tech issues and using them as a weapon and a tool, and to stop abusing various forms of sanctions to influence Chinese companies.”<\/p>\n
The sanctions could damage China’s energy markets and economy as Beijing imports half of its oil from the Middle East. In 2025, the world’s second-largest economy will buy more than 80% of Iranian oil, according to a report by analytics firm Kpler. <\/p>\n
Teapot refineries are of vital importance to China by increasing oil supplies through imports and storing discounted Russian and Iranian oil. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n