The US is imposing penalties on a handful of Chinese shipping firms for continuing to carry Iranian oil after sanctions waivers lapsed in May.
China Concord Petroleum Co (中和石油), Kunlun Shipping Co (香港昆侖船務), Pegasus 88 Ltd (飛馬 88 有限公司) and COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Seaman & Ship Management Co (大連中遠海運油運船員船舶管理有限公司) have been charged with knowingly breaching restrictions on handling and transacting Iranian petroleum.
Additional restrictions were also imposed on five executives at the companies, as well as Kunlun Holding Co (崑崙控股有限公司) and COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co (大連中遠海運油品運輸有限公司), which own or control one or more of the sanctioned entities.
The sanctions bar US citizens and companies from dealing with the shipping companies, effectively blocking them from US banks at the heart of the global financial system.
They also block any property or interests the firms or people have in the US, and forbid any US assets from being paid or transferred to them.
China continues to import relatively small amounts of oil and petroleum products from the Persian Gulf nation in the face of the White House’s sanctions on the OPEC producer. It took 714,862 tonnes of crude from Iran last month, compared with a monthly average of 2.2 million tonnes last year, Chinese customs data showed.
The sanctions could complicate talks to end the US-China trade dispute, which resume in Washington next month.
The penalties do not apply to COSCO’s ultimate parent, COSCO Shipping Corp, or any of its other subsidiaries or affiliates, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement on its Web site.
COSCO Shipping Energy, the parent of COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian), yesterday halted trading in Hong Kong after the announcement.
“This is one of the largest sanctions actions the United States has taken against entities and individuals identified as transporting Iranian oil since our sanctions were reimposed in November 2018,” US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in the statement.
These sanctions are over the transport of Iranian crude oil, he said.
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