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 Federal magistrate Nancy K. Johnson said that because the tanker
was some 60 miles (100 km) offshore, and outside territorial waters,
an order she issued late on Monday for U.S. Marshals to seize the
cargo could not be enforced. She said the dispute between Iraq's
central government and the autonomous region of Kurdistan should be
resolved in Iraq.
Overnight Johnson signed an order directing the marshals to seize
the 1 million barrels of crude from the United Kalavrvta tanker
anchored in the Gulf of Mexico. Tuesday she scheduled a conference
to give the two sides a chance to state their case.
The ship could simply sail away, though it also could offload its
cargo for delivery to another U.S. Gulf of Mexico port outside of
Texas, lawyers said.
Baghdad's lawyers had laid claim to the oil in a lawsuit filed on
Monday, saying Kurdistan sold the crude without permission from the
central government.
The latest dispute over exports reflects Iraqi Kurds’ emboldened
steps toward seizing greater political and economic autonomy, with
oil sales seen as central to Kurdish dreams of independence that
Baghdad opposes.
 While the sides fought the legal battle in Houston, they pressed the
political fight in the courtroom of public opinion.
Iraq warned companies against trying to buy other shipments of
Kurdish crude after it won the seizure order, while Kurdish leaders
asserted their right to sell the oil but said they would face
obstacles.
“The Ministry of Oil in Baghdad continues to interfere directly and
indirectly with KRG oil sales," said Karwan Zebari, an official with
the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representation in Washington.
SEPARATE CLAIMS
A lawyer in Houston for the Kurds said the regional government would
file its own claim of ownership for the cargo, a sign the legal
standoff might continue.
Meanwhile, a Kurdish government official said export plans would be
hurt.
"We have to acknowledge that the ruling of the U.S. court will
definitely have negative consequences on the region's attempts to
market its oil," he said of the order to seize the cargo. "Buyers
now will start to step back and think twice before purchasing
Kurdish crude."
Washington has publicly opposed direct oil sales by the autonomous
region, fearing they could contribute to the break-up of Iraq. It
has stopped short of banning U.S. companies from buying the oil
while warning them of potential legal risks.
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Officials from the State Department and the U.S. Marshals Service
said the judge's order could only be applied if the ship entered
U.S. territory. In this case, that would be 12 nautical miles from
shore, said Martin Davies, a law professor and the director of
Tulane University’s Maritime Law Center in New Orleans.
If the oil’s owner wants to stay out of U.S. courts, “they just have
to order the ship to stay out," he said.
While the rulers of Iraq’s northern Kurdish enclave have long
aspired to independence, their position has strengthened in recent
months as Kurdish Peshmerga troops have outperformed Iraqi soldiers
against Islamist militants.
Kurds have also succeeded in cementing their control of land and oil
reserves around the resource-rich city of Kirkuk, while Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite Arab who has been an adversary of
Iraqi Kurds, has fallen out of favor in Washington.
At least one cargo of Kurdish crude was delivered to the United
States in May to an unidentified buyer, and four other cargoes of
Kurdish crude have been delivered this year in Israel.
The case is Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq v. Ministry of
Natural Resources of Kurdistan Regional Governate of Iraq et al,
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 3:14-cv-00249.
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Missy Ryan and Tim
Gardner in Washington, Isra' al-Rubei'i and Ahmed Rasheed in
Baghdad, Terry Wade in Houston, David Ingram and Patience Haggin in
New York,; David Sheppard and Julia Payne in London and Supriya
Kurane in Bangalore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Howard Goller)
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