Chinese Oil Firm Subsidiary to Pay $14.5M to Settle Export Filing Violations
PetroChina International America -- a subsidiary of oil and gas giant PetroChina International Co. -- agreed to pay a $14.5 million fine for violating U.S. export laws, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas announced this week.
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The attorney's office brought a civil forfeiture suit against the company after authorities found evidence that it "misclassified more than $32 million of ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel as mineral oil mix for certain export transactions to Mexico" from 2019 to 2020 when it filed inaccurate information in the Automated Export System. Mexican authorities first discovered "discrepancies between import documents from a Panamanian oil tanker" after it entered a Mexican port.
U.S. authorities also found other misclassifications and incorrect AES filings submitted by PetroChina International America, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The subsidiary "fully cooperated with the investigation into the export violations and has enhanced its compliance program," agreeing to provide the U.S. attorney's office with details of its compliance efforts over the next three years.