{"id":208872,"date":"2026-04-26T01:40:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-sanctions-chinas-teapot-refinery-for-buying-iranian-oil-al-jazeera\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T01:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T01:40:29","slug":"us-sanctions-chinas-teapot-refinery-for-buying-iranian-oil-al-jazeera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-sanctions-chinas-teapot-refinery-for-buying-iranian-oil-al-jazeera\/","title":{"rendered":"US sanctions China\u2019s \u2018teapot\u2019 refinery for buying Iranian oil – Al Jazeera"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hengli refinery, China\u2019s second-largest, has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran\u2019s military, the US Treasury says.<\/em>
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The United States has sanctioned a Chinese oil refinery for buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil.
Ahead of potential new talks<\/a> on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran, the US Treasury Department on Friday said that it was targeting Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery, China\u2019s second-largest \u201cteapot\u201d or independent refinery.
Hengli is \u201cone of Tehran\u2019s most valued customers\u201d and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Iranian military through crude oil purchases, the Treasury added.
It also imposed new sanctions on about 40 shipping firms and vessels alleged to be operating as part of Iran\u2019s shadow fleet<\/a>.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, DC pushed back against the move.
\u201cWe call \u200con the US to stop politicising trade and sci-tech issues and using them as a weapon and a tool and stop abusing various kinds of sanction to hit Chinese companies,\u201d a spokesperson said.
China gets more than half of its oil from the Middle East, and last year purchased more than 80 percent of Iran\u2019s shipped oil, according to analytics firm Kpler.
The US Navy has blockaded<\/a> Iranian ports since April 13, in what President Donald Trump claims is a bid to further choke Iran\u2019s proceeds from oil and gas exports.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s \u201cteapot\u201d refineries<\/a> are small, privately owned refineries, mostly based in Shandong province and nicknamed for their teapot-like shape.
They play a key role in beefing up China\u2019s oil supplies by importing and stockpiling discounted Iranian and Russian oil \u2013 while allowing state-owned enterprises to remain more insulated from politically risky oil trading.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged Friday to continue targeting the \u201cnetwork of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets\u201d.
\u201cAny person or vessel facilitating these flows \u2013 through covert trade and finance \u2013 risks exposure to US sanctions,\u201d he said.
Aside from the prospect of sanctions, the US-Israel war<\/a> on Iran has increased financial pressures for teapot refineries, which are facing \u201chigh replacement prices in a market already strained by global tensions\u201d, Brussels-based economic think tank Bruegel reported last month.
Even before the war began, the Trump administration was targeting China\u2019s independent refineries.
Last year, the Treasury sanctioned Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group, Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical and Shandong Shengxing Chemical.<\/p>\n

Follow Al Jazeera English:<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Hengli refinery, China\u2019s second-largest, has generated hundreds of millions of dollars for Iran\u2019s military, the US Treasury says.SaveShareThe United States has sanctioned a Chinese oil refinery for buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Iranian oil.Ahead of potential new talks on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran, the US Treasury Department on Friday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":208873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-208872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}