The oil tanker at the center of a lawsuit over Kurdistan’s autonomous exports appears to have unloaded at the port of Ashkelon, having abandoned its quest to deliver crude to the U.S.The United Kalavryta, carrying more than 1 million barrels of oil produced and exported by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), sailed away from Texas in late January.It arrived at the Israeli port of Asheklon, where several other KRG-chartered tankers have unloaded their cargoes.
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.
A source in the KRG said that all the oil was being delivered to established international trading companies. Much of the crude being lifted was sold under prepayment deals last year, the source said, with the Kurds in need of funds after Baghdad cut the region’s budget.