The United States has added more entities to its sanctions list for actions that it said violated current sanctions on Iran that seek to limit its oil trade, according to a U.S. Department of the Treasury press release.
The U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed six additional entities on the sanctions list for their dealings with Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd.
The entities include companies based not only in Iran, but in the UAE and China as well, for their support of Triliance, whose "continued involvement in the sale of Iranian petrochemical products," which earned itself a spot on the sanctions list back in January.
The Treasury Department also added five names to the sanctions list for "engaging in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of petroleum or petroleum products from Iran." Three individuals-the heads of the sanctioned entities-were also placed on the list.
Petrochemicals are a huge revenue source for Iran, where petrochemical investments reached $10 billion since March, IRNA reported this month. Additionally, Iran has plans to launch another 17 petrochemical projects by the end of its year that will be capable of producing 100 million tons annually. The revenue from those additional projects could reach $25 billion.
The sanctions have not diminished Iran's rhetoric that portrays a country with oil-rich ambitions. The sanctioned country stated earlier this month that it is already in the process of building an onshore oil pipeline worth $1.8 billion that would bypass the Strait of Hormuz-the world's most critical oil chokepoint.
Sanctions would become much harder to implement for oil transported via pipeline.
One tanker tracking company, TankerTrackers.com, stated that their data shows Iran is exporting more oil that U.S. figures suggest.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More
Comments
They annoy our oilfield personnel and stress the hell out of us.
Force the Middle East and the Russians to live with and to listen to them for a year. Those Countries will make promises to God to stop any misbehaving.