The oil tanker United Kalavrvta, carrying 1 million barrels of Kurdish oil, is finally leaving US waters after Baghdad and the Kurds agreed to share the disputed oil revenue, Reuters reports.
The tanker headed east on Tuesday across the Atlantic to Gibraltar, having spent six months idling off Texas coast as the legal dispute over the cargo ownership awaited solution.
The United Kalavrvta was prevented from unloading by a Texas judge in August, who subsequently withdrew seizure of the vessel for lack of jurisdiction.
However, according to the vessel’s operator, Marine Management Services, cited by Reuters, orders to discharge the cargo have not been received yet.
Kurdish leadership has been faced with numerous difficulties in their attempts to sell oil independently as Baghdad claims ownership of the cargo.
As a way of preventing export of crude by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) Iraq has resorted to blacklisting of tankers from its oil terminals that were hired by KRG.
Nevertheless, the heat seems to be wearing down as the two sides agreed in December over how the handle oil exports.
World Maritime News Staff