US sanctions first Chinese teapot refinery over Iranian crude

The US Treasury sanctioned Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical, a small independent refinery in China's Shandong province, and its chief executive, saying it bought about half a billion dollars' worth of Iranian oil. Treasury says some of that crude arrived on shadow fleet tankers already sanctioned over links to the Houthis and Iran's military logistics ministry, including Mehle and Kohana. It also designated 19 entities and vessels it accuses of shipping millions of barrels of Iranian oil to such refineries. It was the first time Washington had targeted a so-called teapot refinery.

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