US-sanctioned Chinese oil terminal resumes business after ownership change

By Chen Aizhu

SINGAPORE, March 11(Reuters) - A Chinese oil terminal sanctioned by Washington in October has resumed operations after a logistics unit of state refiner Sinopec 0386.HK sold its stake in the facility to a local port operator, according to two trade sources and a tanker tracker.

The U.S. sanctions on the Rizhao Shihua terminal for handling Iranian oil carried on sanctioned vessels disrupted crude flows and forced cargo diversions for Sinopec, which had been receiving a fifth of its oil imports from the facility in Shandong province.

The terminal in the city of Lanshan, with three berths capable of handling very large crude carriers, was idled for months as shipowners and traders avoided it for fear of incurring secondary sanctions.

However, sources said the facility had resumed discharges in recent weeks after Sinopec Kantons Holding 0934.HK sold its 50% stake to a local port operator.

Sinopec Kantons on February 27 said Rizhao Shihua "commenced liquidation and asset disposal" and assets were sold for about 2.41 billion yuan ($350 million), without naming the buyer.

Ship-tracking by Vortexa Analytics shows at least one 2-million-barrel tanker loaded with Iranian oil docked at one of the berths on February 28, one of the first discharges after the ownership change.

Calls to Rizhao Port, which owned the other half of the terminal before the Sinopec sale, went unanswered.

($1 = 6.8857 Chinese yuan renminbi)