CCIC Singapore amongst nearly 24 firms named in latest US OFAC sanctions
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by Admin
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday (13 May) sanctioned nearly two dozen firms operating in multiple jurisdictions, including marine fuel testing and surveying firm CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd (CCIC Singapore).
OFAC said the Iranian government allocates billions of dollars’ worth of oil annually to its armed forces to supplement their budget allocations, underwriting the development of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as financing regional terrorist groups.
“Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and its main commercial affiliate, Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company (Sepehr Energy), continue to establish front companies and rely on buyers and facilitators to enable their sanctioned oil trade,” it said on its website.
OFAC alleged that Sepehr Energy has “consistently relied” on CCIC Singapore to accomplish not only the necessary pre-delivery cargo inspections required before oil is transferred to China, but also to conceal the oil’s Iranian origins.
In late 2024, CCIC Singapore provided inspection services during a ship-to-ship transfer of approximately two million barrels of Iranian oil from the sanctioned vessel and Sepehr Energy-affiliated SIRI (IMO 9281683), formerly known as the ANTHEA.
In mid-2024, CCIC Singapore also allegedly provided inspection services for the sanctioned vessel HECATE (IMO 9233753) and likely provided falsified documents concealing the vessel’s identity and certifying its Iranian oil cargo as Malaysian heavy crude oil. From late-2023 until at least late-2024, China-based CCIC sister company Huangdao Inspection and Certification Co., Ltd similarly provided oil cargo inspection services to numerous vessels already sanctioned for transporting Iranian oil.
“CCIC Singapore PTE. Ltd. and Huangdao Inspection and Certification Co., Ltd are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Sepehr Energy,” OFAC said.
Once the oil reaches ports in China, Sepehr Energy and its fronts are reliant on complicit local agencies to handle vessel berthing and discharge operations, as well as transportation and storage services for the vessels’ oil cargoes.
Entities in Shandong province, which is home to many of China’s small, independent teapot refineries—the primary purchasers of Iranian crude oil—have been especially willing to aid sanctioned Iranian vessels and oil cargoes.
OFAC added other companies—typically small agencies with generic or non-descript stated business purposes—have served as the middlemen between Sepehr Energy and Shandong’s teapot refineries by acting as the purchasers of the oil.
In early 2024, Hong Kong-based companies Metaone Trading Limited, South Sea Energy Limited, Continental Sinoil Group Limited, Winso Trading Limited, and Singapore-based Oriental Apple Company Pte Ltd collectively took delivery of millions of barrels of Iranian oil from Sepehr Energy front Xin Rui Ji, likely as representatives of the small, independent teapot refineries based near Qingdao Port area in Shandong province.
Note: The full list of sanctioned companies can be found here.
Photo credit: Manifold Times
Published: 14 May, 2025
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