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Iraqi Kurdistan's Texas oil tanker unloads in Israel

An oil tanker that was blocked for months from unloading in Texas by a Baghdad legal challenge has sailed back to the Mediterranean and delivered its cargo to Israel, according to trading sources and ship-tracking data. The United Kalvrvta tanker, carrying 1 million barrels of crude from the semi-autonomous region, became embroiled in a legal dispute in Texas last July after the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) looked to ramp up independent oil shipments. The Iraqi central government challenged the sales, branding them illegal. The KRG protested that independent sales were allowed under Iraq's constitution. The tanker spent several months off the coast of Texas after Baghdad tried to have a U.S. court seize the oil. The ship eventually set sail from Texas in late January, shortly after Baghdad and the KRG agreed a temporary deal on oil sales. Ship-tracking data this week showed the tanker sailing fully-laden towards the Israeli port of Ashkelon before its satellite transponder was turned off on Feb 22. It reappeared on Friday unladen. Several of the oil tankers that have carried Iraqi Kurdistan crude from Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan have unloaded at Israeli ports, according to ship-tracking data and industry sources. http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iraqi-Kurdistans-Texas-oil-tanker-unloads-in-Israel-392427

Tanker left anchorage after months

The "United Kalavryta" which has been anchored for months off the US laden with one million barrels of oil has started sailing towards Gibraltar. The Marine Management Services (MMS) of Greece confirmed that the tanker was heading towards southern Spain. The vessel has not offloaded and no discharge orders have been given as yet. According to a court document from Jan 20, 2015, the KRG told Judge Miller of Texas District Court that the tanker would soon be forced to move to another destination in order to pass special surveys designed to maintain its class certification. The vessel would move given the mounting cost and continued delays occasioned by this litigation. The tanker got caught up in the middle of a conflict between Iraq and Kurdistan over the ownership of the cargo during summer 2014. A US court decided earlier in January that it was in its jurisdiction to make a ruling on the "United Kalavryta". But the KRG said in its letter to the judge that it continued to believe that courts in the US were not the appropriate forum in which to resolve issues in this case.

Texas Tanker Said Still in Limbo With Iraq Kurdish Deal

The Iraq Oil Ministry’s production accord with the Kurdistan Regional Government hasn’t resolved their U.S. court fight over a tanker of crude that has lingered off the Texas coast since July, a person familiar with the matter said. The tanker loaded with a million barrels of Kurdish crude went to sea before the deal was signed on Dec. 2. After a closed-door meeting yesterday with U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in Houston, Hal Watson, the KRG’s lead lawyer, declined to comment on whether the Kurds will keep trying to bring the stranded cargo into the U.S. Jim Loftis, Iraq’s lead lawyer, said he discussed the accord with the judge and KRG’s attorney. The Iraqi central government has been trying to seize the $100 million cargo of the United Kalavryta for more than four months to prevent the KRG from cracking U.S. oil markets. Energy companies have been reluctant to accept oil Iraq claims was exported from Kurdistan without its consent. The tanker has been slowly circling a tracking buoy about 60 miles off Galveston, Texas, awaiting a decision. The ship’s location and draft –- an indication of how much cargo it’s carrying –- were unchanged as of Dec. 2, according to Bloomberg tracking data. The judge asked the lawyers to update him on the status of their dispute in “a week or so,” Loftis said. Watson declined to comment on whether a deal had been reached on the tanker. Kurdistan http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/texas-tanker-said-still-in-limbo-with-iraq-kurdish-deal/