The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the US Department of State have sanctioned more than 30 individuals and ships in several countries for their involvement in the sale and transport of Iranian oil products.
These sanctions include oil brokers in the UAE and Hong Kong, as well as tanker operators in India and China. They also target the head of the National Iranian Oil Company , Hamid Bovard, and Abbass Asadrouz, the CEO of the Iranian Oil Terminal Company. NIOC is responsible for exploration, production, refining, and export of oil and petroleum products in Iran.
According to OFAC, Iran relies on brokers outside Iran to facilitate sales and transportation of crude oil. Petroquimico FZE, based in UAE, has purchased tens of millions dollars’ worth of petroleum products from NIOC.
Similarly, Hong Kong-based oil broker Petronix Energy Trading Limited has purchased hundreds of thousands metric tons of Iranian oil from Naftaran Intertrade, a marketing arm of NIOC for shipment to China.
