Select Committee Investigation Uncovers How China Evades Sanctions to Buy Crude from Iran, Venezuela, and Russia

March 31, 2026
Press Release

Today, the Select Committee on China released a new investigation uncovering how China buys oil from Iran, Russia, and Venezuela – three countries that are sanctioned by the United States. The investigation, Crude Intentions: How China Became the Clearing Market for Sanctioned Oil, presents new information about China’s use of shadow fleet tankers—at times manned by military and intelligence personnel—to acquire tens of millions of barrels of crude oil at a deep discount to market prices.

“China is the buyer of oil from desperate, rogue regimes through illicit, hard-to-track channels involving shell companies, Chinese refineries, and a shadow fleet of oil tankers," said Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar. "This investigation brings to light key information on how the Chinese Communist Party keeps the economies of Iran and Russia afloat while fueling its own authoritarian agenda."

The investigation reveals how China acquires oil from countries sanctioned by the United States. It uses a shadow fleet of thousands of largely aging tankers operating under foreign flags owned through opaque corporate to continue acquiring oil from sanctioned exporters. Using ship-to-ship transfers off the coast of Malaysia, sanctioned crude is disguised by reissued certificates of origin, bills of lading, and cargo manifests that erase its sanctioned provenance.

The investigation also makes several policy recommendations to combat these issues, including:

  • Authorizing sanctions on ports and terminal operators receiving shadow fleet cargo, such as illegal crude.
  • Establishing a sanctions evasion whistleblower reward program. The program should be available outside U.S. jurisdiction, as the most valuable sources are likely ship brokers, traders, and financial intermediaries operating in transshipment hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, and Malaysia.
  • Directing the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to launch a formal investigation into whether the systematic purchasing and routing of steeply discounted Russian crude by foreign refiners constitutes actionable market manipulation.

Read the full report here.