Iran, led by Sepehr Energy Jahan (SEJ), has released 25 million barrels of stranded oil in Chinese ports, worth over $1.7 billion, to fund the Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS) and its illicit activities. SEJ utilized front companies and clandestine payments to facilitate the operation, loading at least three tankers with sanctioned oil.

Over the past few months, the international press reported on Iranian attempts to release Iranian oil that has been stranded for years in the Chinese ports of Dalian and Zhoushan. The story was widely covered by leading media outlets such as Reuters and The Wall Street Journal, and it received global exposure that led to US Treasury designations of the related entities and companies. Unsurprisingly, this fiasco was also led by Sepehr Energy Jahan (SEJ) and its affiliates.
According to published information, 25 million barrels of Iranian oil, worth over $1.7 billion, have been held in China since the oil sector sanctions of 2018. Over the years, the debt to the owners of the storage facilities in China has grown significantly. The reinstatement of the Trump administration in the United States also led to concerns that there might problems releasing the oil, which will diminish drastically the oil price due to storage costs. As a result, the Chinese government gave official approval to release the stored oil. It is worth noting that this is not the first time Iran has attempted to release the oil stranded in China. However, this time, and possibly not by coincidence, the responsibility was given to the Armed Forces General Staff (AFGS), led by no other than Sepehr Energy Jahan (SEJ). The purpose of the release was to use the revenues to fund the AFGS needs, including proxy funding around the world to the purchase of advanced weapons from countries such as Russia. The publications show that Iran managed to load at least three tankers with sanctioned oil in the Chinese ports, which can now be used to fund their illicit and malign activities. In this article, WikIran reveals the methods used by SEJ, along with Chinese companies and its own front companies, to achieve their goals. The Oil Release Process: First, the documents reveal that the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), the original owner of the stranded oil, received an email from the Chinese company NSK, announcing that NSK is ready to load the cargo. NSK listed several terms for the release: The Iranian must provide unsanctioned tankers and pay NSK for the storage of the oil between 2018 and 2023. NSK's representative, Junni Du, also agreed to meet the relevant NIOC personnel in Tehran. This information clearly shows that NSK was actively cooperating with the Iranian regime to release the oil. The condition that Iran must use only unsanctioned vessels was intended to cover the process and prevent the Chinese ports from being designated by Western entities. In response to the email from NSK, NIOC presented Milen Trading as its proxy company, which would deal with the oil release, and asked to schedule the first loading. As WikIran exposed in a previous article, Milen Trading is no other than other one of SEJ's front companies.

Later, Milen Trading continued to advance the oil release and the loading of the tankers. To pay the storage costs, Milen introduced another front company, Guangdong Shouren Supply Chain Management Co. Ltd, using the same cover method that has been report in our previous articles. The following example presents a coordination of release of four million oil barrels in two loadings, of two million barrels each:

After the introduction and the payment, NSK sent an email on December 25th to confirm the reception of the payment of 371,512,364 Chinese Yuan and to updated on the inception of the loading process of Milen's tanker in the por, which would be completed by December 27th. On December 27th, the day of the loading completion, NSK issued an invoice to Milen Trading, with a payment confirmation for the exact same amount of money, including NSK's banking information. Additionaly, the invoice indicates that the loading was executed in the Changxing terminal, thereby incriminating the port.
Afterwards, NSK coordinated another loading, scheduled to take place on January 6th, 2025, using an AFRAMAX tanker that will be loaded with 700,000 oil barrels. The email contains another invoice for the payment of the loading, titled "CH BILLION .CH BILLION.pdf", which is noteworthy due to the fact that CH BILLION is one of the tankers that were sanctioned for its connections to SEJ and its involvement in the oil release from Dalian.

Another entity deeply involved in the release of the oil is CCIC. CCIC (China Certification and Inspection Group) is a Chinese-based oil surveyor that operates in various ports across the country. The company is responsible for examining tankers, storage tanks and the oil they hold. As evident in numerous instances throughout the SEJ materials, CCIC plays a crucial role in most of SEJ's oil sales, inspecting cargo, measuring the quantity of oil unloaded, and more. These reports are essential for SEJ's sales, and, to our understanding, oil cannot be sold without them, making CCIC a vital facilitator of SEJ's operations.

In the process of releasing the oil from Dalian, CCIC was responsible for reporting on the amount of oil loaded from the shore tanks onto SEJ's vessels (measuring the oil in both the tanks and the vessels), determining the oil composition and more, while those reports were sent after each loading. Without CCIC's work, the release of the oil would not have been possible, making them one of the main enablers of the operation and exposing them to US sanctions. For example, an inspection conducted between December 25 and 27, 2024, at the request of Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co. Ltd, indicates that the HENGLI refinery is the customer of the oil, ensuring the oil's condition:

It is noteworthy that CCIC Singapore PTE. Ltd. and Huangdao Certification and Inspection Co, a sister company of CCIC China, were recently designated by the US Treasury for assisting and supporting the Sepehr Energy network. Following the revelation of the materials proving CCIC Dalian's deep involvement, it is likely that it will be sanctioned in the future as well. The only question remainingg is whether the entire CCIC group will be affected by the potential designations.

As can be seen above, SEJ was indeed responsible for the release of sanctioned oil from the Dalian port in China, with the revenue intended military procurement. Unfortunately for the Iranian regime, SEJ's involvement led to the exposure of the information in international media, resulting in US sanctions against vessels, companies and business partners worldwide.

Although SEJ lead the operation, they had another partner in crime - the Chinese government. By providing sanctioned oil to SEJ, a designated company publicly linked to the Iranian armed forces, the Chinese government took an active part in Iran's security apparatus oil export, thereby assisting and enabling it. This process has also exposed Chinese companies like NSK and CCIC, and the Changxing port (mentioned by name in OFAC's designation), to US sanctions, as imposed on other entities involved.

Is this just the beginning? Only time will tell.