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China's Tianbao, a unit of state-owned Zhuhai Zhenrong Co, has chartered an oil tanker to load fuel oil from Iran, according to industry sources.

Tianbao is reported to have hired the tanker Khorfakkan to load 80,000 tonnes of fuel oil from the Iranian port of Bandar-e Mahshahr, located in the Persian Gulf, on May 15.

The US applied sanctions on Zhuhai Zhenrong in January for allegedly brokering gasoline shipments to Iran – which lacks refining capacity – a charge that the company has denied. It was barred from receiving U.S. export licenses or loans of more than $10 million from U.S. financial institutions.

Washington has imposed sanctions that force financial institutions to choose between doing business with Iran or with the US and it has carried out restrictions on Tehran’s central bank.

Iran also faces a European Union embargo on the transportation, purchase, financing and insurance of its oil, commencing on July 1, because of its nuclear programme.

Industry sources claim that Iran has been accepting renminbi for some of the oil it supplies to China. The majority of the oil that goes from Iran to China is understood to be handled by Zhuhai Zhenrong and Unipec, the trading arm of Sinopec.

Meanwhile, Zhuhai Zhenrong is said to have paid Iran for its oil by providing services such as drilling.