Hengli Petroleum Singapore

Hengli Petroleum Singapore is the international trading Arm of Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co. Ltd, responsible for crude procurement and product trading outside mainland China. Following OFAC's designation of the parent refinery on 24 April 2026, Hengli Petroleum transferred 95% of its equity to a Chinese state-affiliated entity in an apparent attempt to insulate the subsidiary from dollar-clearing exposure . By mid-May 2026, Manifold Times reported the Singapore Arm had begun staff layoffs in anticipation of the General Licence V wind-down expiry on 24 May 2026 .

Singapore's status as a dollar-clearing hub made Hengli Petroleum the operationally critical node in the refinery's international trade. The Arm handled the bulk of physical crude purchases from third-party intermediaries and converted them into dollar-denominated contracts. Once the 24 May deadline passes, any dollar-clearing transaction through a Singapore correspondent bank exposes that bank to OFAC secondary sanctions under the CAATSA framework, regardless of MOFCOM's Announcement No. 21 blocking order.

The reported layoffs are the clearest operational signal that Hengli has internalised the enforcement risk even as Beijing's formal posture insists compliance is prohibited. This mirrors how Rusal's counterparties unwound positions in 2018 before the wind-down window closed, regardless of the Russian state's objections.