KRG oil shipment to US deepens dispute with Baghdad

A Kurdish oil tanker carrying a million barrels of crude was recently cleared by the US Coast Guard to unload off the coast of Galveston, Texas, promoting Iraq’s central government to call for a US court order to seize the vessel.

The ship, dubbed United Kalavryta, carries approximately one million barrels of crude, which would fetch more than USD 100 million at international prices.

A US court first ordered that the Kurdish vessel be seized, but it later said the order could not be enforced due to what it claimed to be a “lack of jurisdiction.”

The US State Department has said it would not intervene to block the delivery of the controversial crude shipment.

“There is no US ban on the transfer or sale of oil originated from any part of Iraq,” said Deputy Spokesperson for the US State Department Marie Harf, adding, “Iraq’s energy resources belong to all of the Iraqi people. These questions should be resolved in a manner consistent with the Iraqi constitution.”

The issue is expected to fuel tensions between Washington and Baghdad.

The central government in Baghdad had earlier threatened to take legal actions against any company trading illegally-offered Kurdish oil.

Baghdad says it has the sole right to export the country’ crude, but the Kurds say they are entitled to market the resources of their own region.

The central government has repeatedly censured Kurdistan’s Regional Government (KRG) for exporting illegal crude to neighboring Turkey.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maleki has described Erbil’s crude exports to Turkey as a “constitutional violation” which the Arab country would “never allow, not for the [Kurdistan] region, nor for the Turkish government.”

HK