Missing tanker reappears off the coast of Texas, still full

A tanker carrying disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude oil reappeared on satellite tracking on Monday near Texas, days after having gone silent with a US$ 100 million cargo, but the latest vessel data showed it had not offloaded at sea.

According to AIS ship tracking data used by the US Coast Guard, the United Kalavrvta, which has been in limbo for weeks, was still 95% full.

Its would-be US buyer has balked at taking delivery of the cargo, and Baghdad has filed a lawsuit in a US court saying exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are illegal. The KRG argues they are allowed under the Iraqi constitution.

The vessel was anchored on Monday in the Galveston Offshore Lightering Area, essentially unmoved from its previously known position.

Vessels such as the United Kalavrvta, which are too big to enter ports near Houston, use the lightering area to transfer their cargoes to smaller ships before delivery.

Another tanker disappears

Approximately a week ago, a Kurdish tanker carrying crude disappeared from satellite tracking north of Egypt’s Sinai, only to reappear empty two days later near Israel.

As recently as June, Iraq’s central government made an attempt at illegalising Kurdish oil sales but it was ultimately rejected by Iraq’s Supreme Court.

Edited from various sources by Elizabeth Corner

Sources: Reuters, RT

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