|
 Coast Guard officials went aboard the tanker United Kalavrvta on
Sunday and verified the ship and crew's ability to safely offload
the oil, a Coast Guard spokesman said.
The ship set sail from the Turkish port of Ceyhan in June with a
load of crude oil supplied by a new pipeline from the Kurdish
oilfields.
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.
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.
The U.S. government has expressed fears that independent oil sales
from Kurdistan could contribute to the breakup of Iraq as the
government in Baghdad struggles to contain the ultra-hardline
Islamic State, a group of Sunni Islamist insurgents who have
captured vast areas of the country.
But it also has grown frustrated with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki's handling of the crisis.
The tanker anchored on Saturday night in an area off the port of
Galeveston, Texas, where ships too large to transit the Houston Ship
Channel offload oil to smaller tankers for delivery to the U.S.
mainland.
Throughout Saturday and Sunday, the Coast Guard was in communication
with the U.S. National Security Council, and departments of State
and Homeland Security, said Petty Officer Andy Kendrick.
To deliver the crude the tanker only had to show it could do so in
compliance with Coast Guard regulations, Kendrick said.
"We didn't have any extra stuff to impose on them," he said.
Crude offloading could begin as soon as the ship arranges a contract
with a company that performs lightering, as the process is called,
he said. Lightering, depending the size of the cargo, can take
several hours and even days.
[to top of second column] |
Attempts to contact the ship's owner and the vessel itself were
unsuccessful.
A State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity on
Sunday because of the sensitivity of the issue, said officials were
well aware the ship's location and cargo.
"This is a private commercial matter," the official said. "Our
policy has not changed. Iraq's energy resources belong to all of the
Iraqi people. As in many cases involving legal disputes, the United
States informs the parties of the dispute and recommends they make
their own decision with advice of counsel."
Washington has pressured companies and governments not to buy crude
from the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), but it has stopped short
of banning purchases by U.S. firms.
The KRG has renewed its push for an independent state amid the
latest violence roiling Iraq. Its relationship with Baghdad has
deteriorated over what it sees as Maliki's role in stoking the
crisis and the long-running dispute over oil sales.
Baghdad has threatened to sue anyone that buys Kurdish oil.
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, David
Sheppard in London, editing by David Evans and Cynthia Osterman)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
