Hengli Petrochemical dives
Meanwhile, shares of Hengli Petrochemical fell as much as 10 percent on Monday after the US sanctions.
The US Treasury Department said on Friday that the refiner is one of Iran’s largest customers for crude oil and petroleum products. The company denied it had any dealings with Iran in a statement on Sunday.
The Trump administration has already imposed sanctions on several other independent refiners, including Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group, Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical, and Shandong Shengxing Chemical.
These sanctions, blocking US assets of those designated and preventing Americans from doing business with them, have deterred some larger independent refiners from buying Iranian oil.
China bought more than 80 percent of Iran’s shipped oil last year, data from analytics firm Kpler showed.
Sanctions experts have long said that the independent refineries are somewhat immune to the full effect of US sanctions as they have limited exposure to the US financial system.
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