Thursday, May 29, 2014

Kurdish oil flow continues in defiance of Baghdad’s legal move (Turkish energy minister)

Kurdish oil from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the southern Turkish port of Ceyhan continues at 100,000 to 120,000 barrels, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız has said.

Shipments of oil pumped from the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and stored in Ceyhan began on the night of May 22, sparking reaction from the central Iraqi government, which insists it has the sole right to export the crude oil and describes the Kurdish sales as “smuggling.”



Baghdad’s Oil Ministry filed a request for arbitration against the Turkish state-owned pipeline operator BOTAŞ at the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce after crude from Kurdistan was exported to international markets via Turkey.

  • Answering reporters’ questions in Ankara yesterday, the minister said oil flow is continuing, despite Baghdad’s legal move. 
  • Yıldız also said they have not received any notices regarding the application.
“There have not been any notices conveyed to our side. If there were, we would be able to see them,” he said, adding the Economy Ministry is following developments to see if there have been any embargo attempts against Turkish companies, as Iraq has threatened doing.

The minister also added oil flow from Baghdad remains at a standstill and has not yet started.

The Kurds have sent around 1.5 million barrels of oil through the new pipeline, but both Ankara and Arbil have expressed hopes to double the daily flow amount to 200,000 after setting the conditions. 

[hurriyetdailynews.com]
29/5/14
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1 comment :

  1. Tanker with piped Iraqi Kurdish oil U-turns away from U.S.....

    (Reuters) - A crude oil tanker at the center of a dispute between Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad has reversed course from its route towards the United States, ship-tracking data showed on Friday, indicating that the shipper may not have a buyer.

    The United Leadership oil tanker has become a symbol of a wider conflict between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan over oil sales from the autonomous northern enclave, as it contains the first crude to come out of the region's newly built pipeline into Turkey.

    Since loading at the Turkish port of Ceyhan last week, the United Leadership set course for the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to ship-tracking and market sources.

    The U.S. State Department said that it did not condone oil sales bypassing Baghdad, and that any buyers could risk a legal suit with the central government.

    "We do not support the export or sale of oil absent the appropriate approval of the federal Iraqi government," a U.S. State Department official said.

    Despite its position, the U.S. has already imported small quantities of Kurdish oil, though not from the pipeline.

    The Kurdish government insisted the oil is going to Europe, when asked about its U.S. destination and that it would be the "first of many such sales".

    "One million barrels was sold by auction toboth Germany and Italy. No shipment was sent to the United States," Moyad Talab, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Alliance to the central government, told Reuters.

    HOMELESS

    But for the moment, the oil appears to be homeless.

    The tanker reversed course south of Portugal with a new destination, Gibraltar for orders, Reuters AIS Live ship tracking showed, suggesting that the lifter of the oil has still not found a place to put it.........http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/30/us-iraq-kurdistan-oil-idUSKBN0EA1VT20140530?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
    30/5/14

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