US Sanctions on China Oil Giant Turn Up Heat for Teapot Refiners

A US move to sanction one of China’s largest private refiners over ties to Iran will hurt a vast and already embattled petrochemicals sector — but the collateral damage will extend far beyond oil.

The Treasury Department announced on Friday that it had blacklisted Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co. The target is the most ambitious to date in China’s refining sector, and underscores US eagerness to push Iran to the negotiating table at all costs, even just weeks before an expected and long-awaited meeting between President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping.