Tag: US Sanctions

US's Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed six sanctions on six Chinese companies, amongst them COSCO, for transporting oil from Iran in defiance of sanctions set in place in November 2018. Sanctioned COSCO affects the shipping industry and those oil companies and traders who have entered agreements. 

The US Department of Treasury blacklisted four vessels and four companies for reportedly helping Venezuela's petroleum export sector and in the delivery of the oil to Cuban buyers. OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by US persons or within the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.

Following a long journey across Mediterranean, the Iranian oil tanker 'Adrian Darya 1', which is at the centre of a major diplomatic dispute between Iran and the US, eventually arrived at the Syrian port of Tartus and sold its cargo, violating EU and US sanctions. 

In an updated FAQs document, US OFAC clarifies that, even for vessels carrying lawful cargo to and from Iran, the provision of bunkers is unlawful and subject to US secondary sanctions, wherever it takes place, in the event the bunkering operation involves, inter alia, US financial institutions.

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has blacklisted a large 'oil-for-terror' shipping network that is directed by and financially supports the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

The owner of the Istanbul-based Ramor Group was sentenced in Federal District Court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to 27 months imprisonment in connection with his conviction for conspiracy to violate US sanctions by exporting specialized marine equipment from the US to Iran between 2013 to 2015.

On May 3, 2019, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published A Framework for OFAC Compliance Commitments, which sets out OFAC’s views of the necessary elements of an effective economic sanctions compliance program.

As the Shipowners' Club informs, President Trump issued Executive Order 13871 (the Order) of 8 May 2019 ‘Imposing Sanctions with Respect to the Iron, Steel, Aluminum, and Copper Sectors of Iran’. The Order included a 90-day wind-down period, enabling those persons engaged in transactions to take necessary steps to avoid exposure to sanctions.

On 5th August, President Trump issued Executive Order 13884, reinforcing sanctions against Venezuela. The order targets the government of Venezuela and blocks all its assets and property in the US, while prohibiting the Venezuelan government to use the US financial system.

Two ships transporting Iranian LPG or liquid gas, involved in Iran-China deliveries, were reportedly detained in Singapore on July 22 and 24. The detentions come under US sanctions, banning exports of Iranian oil and gas. The two vessels are no longer listed as 'under Sheriff's arrest'. Specifically, on the ships seems to have been released, while the other one is still at port.