The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control on April 24 designated Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., Ltd., describing it as one of the largest buyers of sanctioned Iranian crude oil and saying China's second-largest teapot refinery had bought billions of dollars of Iranian petroleum since at least 2023 and received more than 5 million barrels on sanctioned shadow fleet vessels. Treasury said proceeds from those sales flowed to Iran's Armed Forces General Staff through its sales agent, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company, and it also designated about 40 related shipping entities and vessels, increasing secondary sanctions risk for banks, insurers and traders that deal with Hengli. The 400,000-barrel-a-day refinery, part of Hengli Group, denied buying Iranian crude and called the sanctions baseless; the wider group says it employs more than 300,000 people and generates more than $100 billion in annual revenue, while its other businesses were not sanctioned. Hengli has reportedly lined up at least 2 million barrels of West African crude as it shifts toward non-sanctioned supply, highlighting how China's independent refiners remain a key outlet for discounted oil from sanctioned producers.