PetroChina International America (PCIA) agreed to pay a fine and forfeiture of $14.5 million to settle charges with the Department of Justice (DOJ) that it violated U.S. export control laws.

PCIA, a subsidiary of PetroChina International, agreed to pay the penalty after authorities discovered evidence that the company reported inaccurate information in the government’s Automated Export System (AES), an electronic database that exporters use to declare international exports from the United States, the DOJ announced in a press release Tuesday.

The DOJ acknowledged the company fully cooperated with its investigation in reaching settlement, including certain compliance undertakings.

The details: A probe conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), and Customs and Border Protection discovered that in 2019 and 2020, PCIA misclassified more than $32 million worth of ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel as mineral oil mix for certain export transactions to Mexico, the DOJ alleged.

The investigation began in December 2019 after Mexican authorities contacted U.S. trade officials for assistance in clarifying discrepancies discovered between importation documents for a Panamanian oil tanker, the DOJ said.

“Authorities conducted a historical analysis of export data PCIA provided, which revealed additional exports that were misclassified and/or undervalued at the time of export and then entered into AES,” the DOJ stated in the release.

Compliance considerations: PetroChina agreed to enhance its compliance program, as well as to provide details of its compliance efforts in an annual report to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas for the next three years.

“[The] forfeiture is a prime example of the U.S. government’s strong interagency partnerships working together to effectively target entities engaging in illicit activities abroad, especially those attempting to use the country’s own systems to facilitate that activity,” said Trey McClish, BIS special agent in charge, in the release. “BIS will continue to identify and disrupt those who attempt to profit from and circumvent U.S. export controls and regulations.”

PetroChina did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jeff Dale is Managing Editor, Editorial Projects and Analytics, at Compliance Week. He previously served as Compliance Week's Digital Editor and has worked as a copy editor at the Boston Herald and city editor at The Hour Publishing Co. in Norwalk, Conn.View full Profile

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