Kurdish Oil Tanker Leaves Moroccan Port Without Unloading
Iraqi Kurdistan's bid to sell its first tanker of crude oil appeared to suffer its second setback in as many weeks on Thursday after the ship left a port in Morocco without a sale which the central Iraqi government opposes. The United Leadership tanker, a symbol of a long-running feud between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government over oil sale rights, loaded one million barrels of Kurdish crude on May 22 and has changed course twice abruptly without discharging oil. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said last week the tanker was designed to show Baghdad that the Kurds controlled their own oil sales. But Iraq's central government in Baghdad, which has deemed any exports of oil not under its control illegal, so far appears to have been successful in warding off potential buyers.
Tanker with Piped Iraqi Kurdish Oil U-Turns Away from US
A crude oil tanker at the centre 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.
