US imposes Iran related sanctions on third China teapot refinery ports

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump’s administration on May 8 imposed sanctions on a third Chinese independent – or “teapot” – oil refinery, and port terminal operators in China for purchases of Iranian oil ahead of an expected fourth round of US-Iran nuclear talks.

The US Treasury designated the Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group refinery and three companies for operating a terminal at Dongying Port in Shandong province.

It said they had purchased or facilitated the delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil.

It was the latest independent Chinese refinery targeted by the Trump administration after it re-imposed a policy of “maximum pressure” that aims to cut off Iran’s export revenue to pressure Tehran into a deal to curb its nuclear programme and stop the funding of militant groups across the Middle East.

“The United States remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran’s oil supply chain to prevent the regime from generating revenue to further its destabilising agenda,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The latest round of talks between Iran and the United States is likely to take place over the weekend in the capital of Oman.

Previous sanctions imposed on two small Chinese refiners for buying Iranian oil have created difficulties in receiving oil, leading them to halt purchases of crude and sell product under other names, sources familiar with the matter said.

Those sanctions have also begun to deter other, larger independent Chinese refiners from buying Iranian crude, three of the sources said.

Based in the port city of Cangzhou, Xinhai is among China’s largest independent refiners outside the teapot hub of Shandong province.

It operates a 120,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery that includes a bitumen plant with annual capacity of 5 million metric tons, and its 74,000