U.S. Ignores Baghdad’s Warning:

Iraqi Kurdistan Oil Reaches Texas

HOUSTON (Dispatches) -- A tanker carrying crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan was anchored near the Port of Galveston, Texas, and must undergo a routine safety inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday before it can unload its cargo, an official said.

Date: 27 July 2014 - 22:43

News ID: ۳۲۳۵

The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker United Kalavrvta sailed from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in June bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast despite Washington's concerns over independent oil sales from the autonomous region and threats from the Iraqi central government.
Crude offloading could begin as early as Sunday, if the tanker passes the Coast Guard inspection "and there are no other issues", said Coast Guard Petty Officer Andy Kendrick.
The Coast Guard was communicating with the U.S. National Security Council, State and Homeland Security departments about the vessel's arrival and status, Kendrick said.
The United Kalavrvta received the oil at Ceyhan from a new Kurdish pipeline.
The ship is too large to move through the Houston Ship Channel, which begins at Galveston, the Coast Guard has said. The United Kalavrvta will have to offload its cargo onto smaller ships offshore before the oil is delivered to the U.S. mainland.
Trading sources in Texas, New York, London and Geneva have been unable to identify the buyer of the United Kalavrvta's cargo. The oil could go to any one of the many refineries located along the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The ship carries approximately 1 million barrels of crude, which would fetch more than $100 million at international prices.
Any sale of Kurdish crude oil to a U.S. refinery would infuriate Baghdad, which sees such deals as smuggling, raising questions about Washington's commitment to preventing oil sales from the autonomous region.
Washington has ostensibly pressured companies and governments not to buy crude from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), but it has stopped short of banning U.S. firms from buying it outright.
The KRG has renewed its push for an independent state amid the latest violence roiling Iraq.
Baghdad has threatened to sue anyone that buys Kurdish oil.
In June, the KRG took control of the long-disputed oil city of Kirkuk and expanded its territory by more than a third as Iraqi forces fled the insurgent onslaught. They have so far declined to commit their Peshmerga forces to help Baghdad fight the ISIL.
On Thursday, an official at SOMO, Iraq's central state oil marketer, reiterated that it would sue any company buying Kurdish oil and blacklist them from deals for Iraq's sizeable crude exports.
"Our foreign legal team is watching closely the movement of the vessel and is ready to target any potential buyer regardless of their nationality," an official from Baghdad's state oil marketer SOMO told Reuters, calling the potential sale "illegal".
The first tanker carrying crude from the Kurdish pipeline set sale from Ceyhan in May. Three others have sailed since then, but only one of the four has been delivered so far — into a port in Occupied Territories for the occupying regime of Israel after a ship-to-ship transfer.
Iraqi Kurdistan began selling its oil independently of the federal government in 2012, trucking first small amounts of condensate through Turkey and then two types of crude oil. At least one tanker of Kurdish crude, the United Leadership, attempted to reach the United States earlier this year, but reversed course south of Portugal.
KRG President Massoud Barzani this month pledged a referendum on independence and dispatched top aides to the White House.
The Zionist regime was the first foreign regime to welcome an independent Kurdistan.