New ownership restarts US-sanctioned Chinese oil port

However, sources said the facility had resumed discharges in recent weeks after Sinopec Kantons Holding sold its 50 per cent 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 two-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.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)