The first vessel with Kurdish oil unloading – Business Week

The first vessel with Kurdish oil unloading – Business Week

After four months of struggle, the first ship with oil from Kurdistan finally unloaded.
The Iraqi government has fought tooth and nail to prevent business with Kurdish oil.

The first ship that transported oil from Kurdistan has finally unloaded, more than four months after it left the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

It writes the Wall Street Journal, referring to the ship tracking site Marinetraffic.com.

The ship was loaded with oil from Kurdistan despite Iraq’s government considers itself be entitled to all the natural resources in the country. The ship spent several months at sea off the coast of Morocco since Iraq through diplomatic maneuvering prevented the ship to unload at the port Mohammedia, according to people familiar with the matter.

In mid-September steered the ship to Malta, where it seems to have loaded of this week because the vessel data indicate that the vessel is now empty of cargo.

The Iraqi government has used several methods to prevent potential buyers of Kurdish oil, including the threat of a ban on buying Iraqi oil, and if that take legal action against anyone who interferes in a deal with the Kurdish oil.

Still, a steady flow of oil from Kurdistan continued to be transported to the mostly anonymous buyers. At least four shipments have reached Asia, and in August said the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Group reports that it received a delivery of about 600,000 barrels of Kurdish crude oil at the Croatian port Omisalj.