Iran shuts border to oil tankers from Kurdistan; KRG could evoke powers to remove GKP as operator of Shaikan

Oil tankers in limbo show Kurds losing access to U.S. market ReutersBy By David Sheppard and Terry Wade | Reuters – 8 hours ago ShareTweet Print By David Sheppard and Terry Wade LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - U.S. refiners will refrain from buying more Kurdish crude oil until a long-running dispute between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan is settled, while Washington urges both sides to set aside their differences and helps them tackle Sunni militants. The two known U.S. buyers of Kurdish crude oil have now rejected delivery of cargoes from tankers near New Jersey and Texas, saying they will not make further purchases until it is determined who has the right to sell the oil: the central government of Iraq or the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). U.S. refiner Axeon Specialty Products was the latest company to turn away a cargo of Kurdish crude oil on Monday. It balked after Baghdad filed a lawsuit over a cargo slated for another U.S. refiner, LyondellBasell NV . "In light of the dispute over the rights to sell crude oil originating from the Kurdish region of Iraq, Axeon will not purchase or accept delivery of any of the affected crude oil until the matter is appropriately resolved," the company said. Now the tankers, the Minerva Joy and the United Kalavrvta, are stuck in limbo, anchored in U.S. coastal waters as they wait out the controversy, Reuters ship tracking data shows. Washington, which has been pushing both sides to reach a deal over oil sales since the start of the year, has stopped short of banning U.S. companies from buying Kurdish crude but warned they may face legal tangles with Baghdad. The impasse over oil sales has become symbolic of the future of Iraq. While the KRG needs revenues to fund its fighters and tackle a growing refugee crisis, Baghdad fears independent oil sales will finance a breakaway Kurdish state. The United States has urged unity and last week launched air strikes against Islamic State militants who have seized a third of the country and defied Baghdad and the Kurds. The White House on Tuesday said Iraqi Kurdish President Masoud Barzani had pledged to work with Iraq's new leader, Haider al-Abadi, who is due to replace Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Abadi called on politicians to end crippling feuds. But analysts said a deal over oil would be difficult to reach. "Until the legal dispute is resolved it seems unlikely the Kurds will be able to find U.S. buyers willing to take cargoes," said Richard Mallinson at Energy Aspects in London. "It is not yet clear that the KRG and a new federal government will be able to set aside their disagreements and reach a deal over Kurdish oil exports any time soon." In total, almost $140 million worth of Kurdish oil sales have been blocked off the U.S. coast since July. A tanker carrying another $100 million (£59.47 million) of Kurdish crude has been stuck off Morocco for more than two months. Before the latest chapter of the dispute, at least five cargoes of Kurdish crude were delivered on U.S. soil this year, all of them going to ports in Houston and Paulsboro used by LyondellBasell and Axeon. (Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Tom Brown) ========================= Iraq lays claim to Kurdish crude cargo in Texas court Mon, Jul 28 19:26 PM EDT HOUSTON (Reuters) - Iraq filed suit on Monday in a Texas court to gain control of a cargo of crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan that Baghdad says was sold without its permission. The United Kalavrvta tanker, carrying some 1 million barrels of crude worth about $100 million, arrived off the coast of Texas on Saturday but has yet to unload its disputed cargo. The ship, which is too large to enter the port of Galveston near Houston, was given clearance by the U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday to transfer its cargo offshore to smaller boats that would deliver it to the U.S. mainland. Iraq, in its filing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, asked for an order allowing the cargo to be seized by the U.S. Marshals Service. Sale of Kurdish crude oil to a U.S. refinery would infuriate Baghdad, which sees such deals as smuggling. The U.S. State Department has expressed fears that independent oil sales from Kurdistan could contribute to the breakup of Iraq, said the oil belongs to all Iraqis, and warned potential buyers of legal risks. But it has also made clear it will not intervene in a commercial transaction. AET Offshore Services, a company in Texas hired to unload the tanker, asked in a separate court filing in U.S. district court on Monday if Iraq's claims were valid. The court filings did not name the end-buyer of the cargo. AET Offshore is an intermediary. Piecemeal oil exports have gone from Iraqi Kurdistan to Turkey and Iran by truck in the past, which Baghdad also opposed. But the opening of a new pipeline to Turkey earlier this year, which could supply the Kurds with far greater revenues, has met much fiercer opposition from Baghdad. One cargo of Kurdish crude was delivered in Houston in May to an unidentified buyer, and four other cargoes of Kurdish crude have been delivered so this year in Israel. The case is Ministry of oil of the Republic of Iraq v. Ministry of Natural Resources of Kurdistan Regional Governate of Iraq et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 3:14-cv-00249 (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, David Ingram and Rebecca Elliott in Washington, and Terry Wade, Anna Driver and Erwin Seba in Houston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) ===================== Islamic State says carried out Baghdad suicide bombing Wed, Jul 23 08:06 AM EDT image BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an overnight suicide bombing in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad which killed 33 people, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the Iraqi capital. The hardline Sunni Islamist group which has led an offensive through northern and western Iraq said the explosion in Kadhimiya, site of a major Sh'ite shrine, was carried out by a fighter it named as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Tunisi (the Tunisian). Officials initially put the death toll from the bomb at 23, but hospital and morgue officials said on Wednesday morning it had risen to 33, with more than 50 wounded. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a wave of bombings in Baghdad, including several blasts on Saturday which killed 27 people. Sunni fighters led by the Islamic State swept through most of Iraq's Sunni Muslim provinces towards Baghdad last month, their advance halted less than 100 km from the capital. Government forces launched a counter-offensive a week ago to recapture Tikrit, home city of executed former president Saddam Hussein, but withdrew within hours after coming under fierce onslaught from the militants. On Wednesday morning an air strike by government forces on a civilian neighborhood in the town of Sharqat, north of Tikrit, killed 12 people, a hospital source said. Security forces also found the bodies of eight Iraqi soldiers 3 km (2 miles) outside Samarra, the most northern city under full government control. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Michael Georgy and Andrew Heavens) ====== So anyone know what Gen Fadhil Barwari, Iraq's counterterrorism commander, is doing in Erbil? Saw him this evening at a hotel lobby chilling Oil ministry threatened to pull the plug on Gulf Keystone's star asset The Kurdistan Regional Government was so concerned by the damaging boardroom leaks to the press it threatened to end the Shaikan partnership. Chairman Simon Murray says Gulf Keystone can achieve 40,000 BOPD by the end of the year Photo: BUDDY MAYS Harriet Dennys By Harriet Dennys, City Diary Editor6:00AM BST 21 Jul 2014 Gulf Keystone chairman Simon Murray has revealed how the oil company came close to losing its most lucrative asset thanks to the “considerable discord” on the board. The share price-damaging leaks, which Mr Murray described as “self-inflicted wounds”, related to this month’s departure of CEO Todd Kozel, who was unpopular with a number of institutional shareholders. Mr Murra

Mr Murray told the Daily Telegraph that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which is effectively a 45pc shareholder in Gulf Keystone’s Shaikan oilfield in Iraqi Kurdistan, was so concerned by the damaging boardroom leaks in recent months that it threatened to end the company’s most significant profit-sharing partnership. y warned shareholders at last Thursday’s annual meeting: “They [the leaks to the press] have caused huge concern to our host government, who have repeatedly requested me to make the changes at board level to ensure that this is stopped. “Indeed, the KRG has made it clear that, if we do not get our house in order, they will remove us as operators of this fantastic Shaikan asset.”

Why Gulf Keystone conspirators had to fall on their swords 20 Jul 2014 Gulf Keystone activists seek reshuffle 04 May 2014 Gulf Keystone Petroleum remains a sell 29 Jun 2014 The right recipe for triumphing against the odds PCF Thomas Shull, Jeremy Asher and John Bell resigned as non-executive directors of Gulf Keystone in June. The company has subsequently drawn up a shortlist of new non-execs, whom Mr Murray says can “bring great value and … give us the best of themselves, which, sadly, has not been the case in the last year.” Drawing a line under the “embarrassing” in-fighting, Mr Murray told the Daily Telegraph: “The board has made the changes we feel necessary to bring harmony to the team.” Mr Murray also revealed that the long-running oil payments dispute between Kurdistan and Southern Iraq is on course to be resolved, easing Gulf Keystone’s cash flow from the KRG. He said: “By the end of this year, Kurdistan will be ... well on its way to economic independence, enabling them to pay us with greater regularity.” Mr Murray forecasts that Gulf Keystone’s oil production will rise from 24,000 to 40,000 BOPD by the end of 2014, and to 66,000 BOPD in 2015. The company will use the additional revenue to fund the development of its third Shaikan production facility. Gulf Keystone confirmed at last Thursday’s AGM that Mr Kozel will resign from the board but stay on as an officer to maintain the relationship of “trust” he has established with the KRG. Mr Kozel and his family remain a significant shareholder. ===================== Besieged Iraqi oil sector buoyed by southern expansion Besieged Iraqi oil sector buoyed by southern expansion A worker climbs a drilling rig at the Rumaila oil field. (BEN VAN HEUVELEN/Iraq Oil Report/Metrography) By Ali Abu Iraq, Ben Lando and Staff of Iraq Oil Report Published Sunday, July 20th, 2014 Iraq is on track for a strong month of oil sales, as southern fields increase output into revamped export infrastructure.The success of the southern oil sector to date has been essential, partly compensating for the loss of nearly all Iraqi production and refining capacity north of Baghdad, following a massive insurgent offensive led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Making good on growth plans will be equally as important."Currently our output is estimated at 3.15 million... ========================= Five car bombs in Baghdad kill 26: police, medics Sat, Jul 19 08:26 AM EDT BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Five car bombs killed 26 people in mostly Shi'ite Muslim neighborhoods in Baghdad on Saturday, police and medics said. The first explosion, a suicide car bombing, killed seven people at a police checkpoint in the Abu Dsheer district in the south of the capital, the sources said. Four other car bombs killed a total of 19 people: one in the Bayaa district in southwestern Baghdad, one in the western district of Jihad and two in northern Baghdad's Kadhimiya, which boasts a major Shi'ite shrine. The army and allied Shi'ite militia are trying to push back Sunni insurgents who swept through northern Iraq last month to within 70 km (45 miles) of Baghdad. Militants fought off an army offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit on Tuesday. The army was forced to pull back south of the city on the banks of the Tigris. The fighting has exacerbated a political crisis in Baghdad, where Shi'ite caretaker Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is trying to form a government in the face of opposition from Sunnis, Kurds and some Shi'ites, three months after Iraq held a parliamentary election. Iraq's Shi'ite clergy as well as Western powers have pressed politicians to overcome their deadlock and agree a new unity government to help tackle the insurgency and prevent Iraq from splitting down ethnic and sectarian lines. (Reporting by Raheem Salman; Editing by Louise Ireland) ==================== Iran shuts border to oil tankers from Kurdistan Tankers carrying crude oil from Kurdistan queue at that Parwezkhan border crossing in Diyala province, Nov. 6, 2013. (PATRICK OSGOOD/Iraq Oil Report) By Patrick Osgood, Andy Watkins and Mohammed Hussein of Iraq Oil Report Published Friday, July 18th, 2014 Iranian authorities have shut the border to tanker trucks from Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, cutting off a major avenue for oil sales. The ban, put in force on July 10, may complicate the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) efforts to achieve economic independence, and also represents a setback for producing companies that need to sell their oil. At times, Iran had been providing a route to market for more than a quarter of the region's oil production. The ban covers all trucks ca... ISIS earning $1M per day from Iraqi oil smuggling ISIS earning $1M per day from Iraqi oil smuggling Hundreds of tankers wait to cross into Iran in one of several lots near the Parwezkhan border crossing in Diyala province, Nov 6, 2013. The fuel and oil trade has long been active. (PATRICK OSGOOD/Iraq Oil Report) By Mohammed Hussein, Christine van den Toorn, Patrick Osgood and Ben Lando of Iraq Oil Report Published Wednesday, July 9th, 2014 Since invading huge swaths of northern and central Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has been smuggling increasing amounts of crude scavenged from Iraq's stricken oil infrastructure to buyers in the Kurdistan region, earning the extremist group an estimated $1 million per day.The first truckloads of ISIS-controlled crude arrived in Tuz Khurmatu, a mixed population town with a large Turkomen contingent that has long been at the epicenter of ethic and administrative tension, ... = EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated from its original version to include the Oil Ministry's official response to the KRG and the full text of both press releases, as well as a translation of the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court's June 24 decision. ERBIL – Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) celebrated a June 24 decision of the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq, which declined to issue a temporary ban on independent Kurdish oil exports.The court did not rule on the questi... =========== http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail?display=discussion&code=cotn:GKP.L From Another Place, All makes sense to me As I said to Gulliver earlier tonight "The Plan was looking good until the sackings that sort of put a spanner in the works don't you think. It's hard to get control of a company from the inside when you are on the outside " From Another Place, ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ewen Ainsworth wasn't "sacked". Putting that to one side, the above analysis seems pretty much correct. It is arguably the case that the intention was also to remove John Gerstenlauer; study of the #s of votes cast can give a pointer. And one of Jeremy Asher's chums called me two weeks ago and told me that, once Todd Kozel was removed, Simon Murray would be forced out as well. So that could have left NO EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS, and just Guthrie and Simon facing the four 'M&G' NEDs. Er...er... Fill the gaps urgently! 1. Jeremy Asher becomes Chairman 2. Thomas Shull becomes Deputy Chairman 3. John Bell becomes CEO 4. Phil Dimmock becomes COO 5. the new board appoints more NEDs to fill the resultant gaps. Something like that? But it went all pear-shaped.....with the sackings Just a mull ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gulliver and ILS any thoughts? Arundallio ----------- Q: What does the Board think of the MNR spokesman Michael Howard’s letter in the Sunday Times, saying that the KRG could evoke powers to remove GKP as operator of Shaikan. Do you believe that this threat could materially effect the price GKP could achieve for a sale of its stake in Shaikan?

SM – The KRG do have the right/power to remove a contractor if they feel that they are not performing to their wishes, and so on. That letter in the Sunday Times was actually pretty clear on that. We have to show the KRG that we are acting properly, and in harmony, not damaging things by our own self inflicted wounds. If they feel that we are making a mess of developing the asset, then they can remove us. That threat is real. The relationship that we have with them – I refer to Todd’s 10 years, and so on. I see the Minister as well, as do other Directors. In fact 3 of our Directors have recently visited the KRG. Yes, he means business. I think we are OK. We have got to get it right. It [the threat] is out there.

================== Among many interesting #Iraq presidency candidates is Hanan al-Fatlawi, an outspoken female MP of PM Maliki's bloc http://www.alghadeer.tv/news/detail/16708/ …

For the First Time in Iraq, a Large Field of Presidential Candidates by Reidar Visser With reports about a large field of candidates, it is very hard to see how due process can be adhered to if indeed an attempt to elect the president will indeed go ahead on Wednesday. The legal adviser of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Tareq Harb, has suggested that adherence to the timelines of proper vetting and appeal possibilities would take us to August before the president could be voted on. By way of contrast, though, at a presser today, the new parliament speaker, Salim al-Jibburi, nonetheless seemed to indicate that a vote would go ahead, which seems legally problematic. Of course, in general terms, the multiplication of presidential candidates seems to be a good thing for Iraq’s democracy. There has been a stark contrast between the official discourse of a contest that is open to all (with potential contestants ranging from those who protest the ethno-sectarian spoils system to those who think the presidency should go to particular ethnicities), and what many believed was the real decision-making process: A debate about which member of the Kurdish PUK party should have the job, maybe with the president of the Kurdish region as supreme arbiter. Eventually, though, even the PUK came up with more than one candidate as both Fuad Masum and Barham Salih registered for potential election.

============ While on holiday, searched the news and thought this was interesting naming Shaikan oil buyer in US as LyondellBasell Mystery Buyer of Kurdish Oil Revealed Posted on 31 July 2014. Tags: BP, Chevron, Exxon, ExxonMobil, KRG, Kurdish Independence, Kurdistan, LyondellBasell, oil exports Mystery Buyer of Kurdish Oil Revealed After months of remaining out of public knowledge, the buyer of Kurdish oil in America has been revealed. The chemical firm LyondellBasell purchased two tankers worth of Kurdish oil in May. The shipments totaled nearly 533,000 barrels of oil and at the time did not result in any legal action. Data retrieved from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that the chemical make up of the crude oil from those two shipments matched characteristics of oil from the Shaikan field in Kurdistan. Over the past two years the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has sold almost 20 million barrels of oil. Kurdistan continues to have bases of operations for many major oil companies including Chevron, BP, and ExxonMobil. (Source: Reuters) ===================

Important pic for anyone interested in #Iraq politics: PM Maliki meeting w/ head of Iran NSC Shamkhani on Friday . Presence of interpreter at Maliki-Shamkhani meeting is amusing since Shamkhani, while Iranian, is of Arab origin from Basra border area #PT. Grand Ayatollah Sistani today met Ali Shamkhani, head of Iran's NSC. Sistani rarely meets high #Iran officials Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · Jul 19

So we're back where I started buying at 5 years ago... great! Wow, what a journey...learnt so much... the hard way. Have to say this company is depressing to me now. I have always said that I have time, and will just ride it out to maximum value, and I always said that I thought we were 'years' away from achieving that... but over the last year or so, lots of little things come out, or come to realisation, that I have been a little mugged off. I am definitely no longer the fan of Mr Kozel that I once was, that's for sure. if I had the balls, I would start trading GKP. I don't see any reason why it won't trickle down to 70p, or even 60p, while no positive news comes out, and while the mess in Iraq isn't resolved, but that is literally gambling, (...yeah, yeah, I know 'any' investment is a gamble of sorts, but I mean in the traditional sense...) and I just know that the moment I hit the sell button, some positive bit of news will come out and I'll be stuffed. I'm sure trading is very thrilling, but for me to do it, would be just reckless and daft. And so, while I don't need the money desperately, I'll be sticking to my plan, of riding it out over the years, watching the RNSs like a hawk, and hope that we actually fulfil the goals of getting into full production, with a decent open BoD, and that the politics in the region get sorted. It's been tough, these last few months... that CPR... the (ex) Top Dawg (still) not buying any shares in his own company after all this time...that effin CPR..etc. But still, no regrets, only lessons learnt!! This time next company, Rodders... Sorry, just the meaningless thoughts of a tired long-term investor in a company that's not been run too well thus far. Just had to get it off my mind! And if there's gonna be someone else going through the same as me, here's the place I'd find them! Good luck all...however you're playing the game. Steve. =========================== Tuesday, July 29, 2014 Iraq’s Southern Oil Industry Untouched By Insurgency But Technical Problems Continue While several small oil fields have fallen under the control of the Islamic State in northern Iraq the vast majority of the country’s reserves reside in the south and have been unaffected. In fact, new infrastructure recently opened that expanded the capacity for southern exports. That doesn’t mean output can’t continue to fluctuate like it always has. In June 2014 exports were down from May due to technical issues and an accident. Problems with docking tankers were the main reason why June exports decreased. Last month Iraq exported 2.423 million barrels a day compared to 2.582 million barrels in May. All of this output went through the southern Basra pipeline. There were troubles with docking tankers at the Basra and Khor Amaya oil terminals along with a tanker hitting a mooring point that temporarily took it off line. This was the third lowest output of the year after March’s 2.396 million and January’s 2.228. Iraq Oil Exports And Profits 2011-2013 Month Avg. Exports (Mil/ Bar/ Day) Avg. Price Per Barrel Revenue (Bill) Jan. 11 2.16 $90.78 $6.082 Feb. 2.20 $98.44 $6.064 Mar. 2.15 $107.13 $7.167 Apr. 2.14 $114.26 $7.342 May 2.22 $108 $7.47 Jun. 2.27 $105.17 $7.173 Jul. 2.16 $108.79 $7.311 Aug. 2.18 $104.91 $7.124 Sep. 2.10 $104.89 $6.619 Oct. 2.08 $104.04 $6.742 Nov. 2.13 $106.59 $6.833 Dec. 2.14 $106.18 $7.061 2011 Avg. 2.16 $105.00 $6.913 Jan. 12 2.10 $109.08 $7.123 Feb. 2.01 $112.92 $6.595 Mar. 2.31 $117.99 $8.472 Apr. 2.50 $116.79 $8.795 May 2.45 $103.03 $8 Jun. 2.40 $90.09 $6.453 Jul. 2.51 $97.14 $7.577 Aug. 2.56 $106.22 $8.445 Sep. 2.59 $107.59 $8.371 Oct. 2.62 $105.51 $8.578 Nov. 2.62 $104.32 $8.200 Dec. 2.34 $103.72 $7.551 2012 Avg. 2.41 $106.20 $7.846 Jan. 13 2.35 $104.92 $7.672 Feb. 2.53 $107.66 $7.644 Mar. 2.41 $103.76 $7.772 Apr. 2.62 $98.70 $7.764 May 2.48 $97.23 $7.477 Jun. 2.32 $97.40 $6.799 Jul. 2.32 $101.00 $7.272 Aug. 2.57 $104.45 $8.356 Sep. 2.07 $104.87 $6.511 Oct. 2.25 $102.57 $7.160 Nov. 2.381 $102.57 $7.324 Dec. 2.341 $102.89 $7.470 2013 Avg. 2.386 $102.33 $7.435 Jan. 14 2.228 $102.37 $6.454 Feb 2.799 $102.05 $7.159 Mar 2.396 $101.03 $7.429 Apr 2.509 $100.69 $7.582 May 2.582 $100.69 $8.077 June 2.423 $102.61 $7.47 Oil Exports Through Basra 2012-2013 January 2012 1.711 mil/bar/day February 1.639 mil/bar/day March 1.917 mil/bar/day April 2.115 mil/bar/day May 2.086 mil/bar/day June 2.085 mil/bar/day July 2.216 mil/bar/day August 2.252 mil/bar/day September 2.178 mil/bar/day October 2.172 mil/bar/day November 2.122 mil/bar/day December 2.022 mil/bar/day 2012 Avg. 2.042 mil/bar/day January 2013 2.093 mil/bar/day February 2.196 mil/bar/day March 2.1 mil/bar/day April 2.31 mil/bar/day May 2.19 mil/bar/day June 2.13 mil/bar/day July 2.32 mil/bar/day August 2.30 mil/bar/day September 1.90 mil/bar/day October 2.06 mil/bar/day November 2.281 mil/bar/day December 2.081 mil/bar/day 2013 Avg. 2.16 mil/bar/day January 2014 2.036 mil/bar/day February 2.507 mil/bar/day March 2.370 mil/bar/day April 2.509 mil/bar/day May 2.582 mil/bar/day June 2.423 mil/bar/day Oil Exports Through Kirkuk 2012-2013 January 2012 393,500 bar/day February 375,800 bar/day March 400,000 bar/day April 393,300 bar/day May 364,500 bar/day June 316,600 bar/day July 300,000 bar/day August 312,900 bar/day September 420,000 bar/day October 451,600 bar/day November 426,600 bar/day December 325,800 bar/day 2012 Avg. 373,300 bar/day January 2013 264,500 bar/day February 339,200 bar/day March 316,100 bar/day April 306,600 bar/day May 283,800 bar/day June 193,300 bar/day July 180,600 bar/day August 270,900 bar/day September 250,000 bar/day October 193,000 bar/day November 309,00 bar/day December 260,000 bar/day 2013 Avg. 264,200 bar/day January 2014 192,000 bar/day February 292,000 bar/day March 25,806 bar/day April 0 bar/day May 0 bar/day June 0 bar/day At the same time capacity at the southern ports just expanded. At the beginning of June a third single mooring point opened. That went along with a new metering platform that started working in May. The mooring points can’t all operate at the same time right now, but it does mean that there can be uninterrupted loading of tankers while repair and other work is being done, which has cut exports in the past. A fourth platform is scheduled to come on line by the end of the year. With the current added capacity Oil Minister Abdul Karim Luaibi announced in mid-July that production was around 3.15 million barrels and exports were over 2.6 million. The opening of the new mooring points come just as Rumaila, West Qurna 1 and 2, Zubayr, Halfaya, and Badra fields are expected to increase their output. This added production and capacity would help make up for the loss of the Kirkuk pipeline, which was knocked out of commission in March by an insurgent attack, and now mostly lies in militant hands. Ironically the summer insurgent offensive has raised oil prices. In June Iraqi crude sold for $102.61 per barrel, up from $100 per barrel in April and May. June was the highest price since December 2013’s $102.89. Iraq earned $7.47 billion in June as a result. That was down from May’s $8.077 billion however, because oil exports dropped. The continued fighting in Iraq and other unrest in the Middle East will likely keep crude prices up. The Oil Ministry is hoping that its exports will rebound in July. Early figures show that’s already happening. That doesn’t mean technical problems wont continue to occur in the future leading exports to fluctuate again. It can only be hoped that overall exports grow over the long run and oil prices stay at $100 per barrel or more since Baghdad needs as much money as it can get right now to pay for its on going security and refugee crisis. SOURCES Iraq, Ali Abu, Lando, Ben, “Besieged Iraqi oil sector buoyed by southern expansion,” Iraq Oil Report, 7/20/14 Lando, Ben, “Iraq oil exports drop in June,” Iraq Oil Report, 7/9/14 - “New Gulf infrastructure opens up export growth,” Iraq Oil Report, 6/4/14 Lando, Ben, Al-Najaf, Kamaran, “Iraqi exports rebound despite loss of northern pipeline,” Iraq Oil Report, 5/4/14 New Sabah, “”Oil” launches a new floating platform capacity of 800 thousand barrels per day,” 6/2/14 Republic of Iraq Ministry of Oil, “Iraq Crude Oil Exports – June 2014,” 7/24/14 Salaheddin, Sinan, “Iraq says crude oil exports rise slightly in May,” Associated Press, 6/1/14 Ynewsiq, “Decline in oil exports to 2.423 million barrels per day,” 7/3/14 Posted by Joel Wing at 8:29 AM ============================== Must have a buyer lined up. Fifth cargo of Kurdish crude oil from Ceyhan completes loading, heads south The tanker carrying the fifth cargo of Kurdish crude to load out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan is currently heading south through the eastern Mediterranean with a destination of Port Said in Egypt, according to Platts vessel-tracking software c-Flow. The crude tanker Kamari finished loading its cargo of 1 million barrels of medium sour crude from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq on Thursday. http://www.platts.com/latest-news/oil/london/fifth-cargo-of-kurdish-crude-oil-from-ceyhan-26848145 ========================== Fifth cargo of Kurdish crude oil from Ceyhan completes loading, heads south London (Platts)--1Aug2014/957 am EDT/1357 GMT The tanker carrying the fifth cargo of Kurdish crude to load out of the Turkish port of Ceyhan is currently heading south through the eastern Mediterranean with a destination of Port Said in Egypt, according to Platts vessel-tracking software c-Flow. The crude tanker Kamari finished loading its cargo of 1 million barrels of medium sour crude from the Kurdish region of northern Iraq on Thursday. Cardiff Tankers, owners of the Kamari, declined to comment. ==============

Kurds seize Iraq oilfields, ministers pull out of government

U.S. judge says cannot seize Kurdish crude for now Tue, Jul 29 18:36 PM EDT image By Anna Driver and Kristen Hays HOUSTON (Reuters) - A high-stakes dispute over a tanker carrying $100 million in Iraqi Kurdish crude took a surprising turn on Tuesday when a U.S. judge said she lacked jurisdiction given the ship's distance from the Texas shore and urged that the case be settled in Iraq. Federal magistrate Nancy K. Johnson said that because the tanker was some 60 miles (100 km) offshore, and outside territorial waters, an order she issued late on Monday for U.S. Marshals to seize the cargo could not be enforced. She said the dispute between Iraq's central government and the autonomous region of Kurdistan should be resolved in Iraq. Overnight Johnson signed an order directing the marshals to seize the 1 million barrels of crude from the United Kalavrvta tanker anchored in the Gulf of Mexico. Tuesday she scheduled a conference to give the two sides a chance to state their case. The ship could simply sail away, though it also could offload its cargo for delivery to another U.S. Gulf of Mexico port outside of Texas, lawyers said. Baghdad's lawyers had laid claim to the oil in a lawsuit filed on Monday, saying Kurdistan sold the crude without permission from the central government. The latest dispute over exports reflects Iraqi Kurds’ emboldened steps toward seizing greater political and economic autonomy, with oil sales seen as central to Kurdish dreams of independence that Baghdad opposes. While the sides fought the legal battle in Houston, they pressed the political fight in the courtroom of public opinion. Iraq warned companies against trying to buy other shipments of Kurdish crude after it won the seizure order, while Kurdish leaders asserted their right to sell the oil but said they would face obstacles. “The Ministry of Oil in Baghdad continues to interfere directly and indirectly with KRG oil sales," said Karwan Zebari, an official with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s representation in Washington. SEPARATE CLAIMS A lawyer in Houston for the Kurds said the regional government would file its own claim of ownership for the cargo, a sign the legal standoff might continue. Meanwhile, a Kurdish government official said export plans would be hurt. "We have to acknowledge that the ruling of the U.S. court will definitely have negative consequences on the region's attempts to market its oil," he said of the order to seize the cargo. "Buyers now will start to step back and think twice before purchasing Kurdish crude." Washington has publicly opposed direct oil sales by the autonomous region, fearing they could contribute to the break-up of Iraq. It has stopped short of banning U.S. companies from buying the oil while warning them of potential legal risks. Officials from the State Department and the U.S. Marshals Service said the judge's order could only be applied if the ship entered U.S. territory. In this case, that would be 12 nautical miles from shore, said Martin Davies, a law professor and the director of Tulane University’s Maritime Law Center in New Orleans. If the oil’s owner wants to stay out of U.S. courts, “they just have to order the ship to stay out," he said. While the rulers of Iraq’s northern Kurdish enclave have long aspired to independence, their position has strengthened in recent months as Kurdish Peshmerga troops have outperformed Iraqi soldiers against Islamist militants. Kurds have also succeeded in cementing their control of land and oil reserves around the resource-rich city of Kirkuk, while Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi’ite Arab who has been an adversary of Iraqi Kurds, has fallen out of favor in Washington. At least one cargo of Kurdish crude was delivered to the United States in May to an unidentified buyer, and four other cargoes of Kurdish crude have been delivered this year in Israel. The case is Ministry of Oil of the Republic of Iraq v. Ministry of Natural Resources of Kurdistan Regional Governate of Iraq et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 3:14-cv-00249. (Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Missy Ryan and Tim Gardner in Washington, Isra' al-Rubei'i and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad, Terry Wade in Houston, David Ingram and Patience Haggin in New York,; David Sheppard and Julia Payne in London and Supriya Kurane in Bangalore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Howard Goller) ========== Iraq Shia bloc wavering re parliament speaker: First wanted temporary speaker, now speaker from non-Muslim minorities http://alliraqnews.com/index.php/2011-04-18-02-57-37/139055-2014-07-13-10-26-20 … Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · 23h Another report claiming 225 MPs (out of 328) showed up at #Iraq parliament today. Kurds absent due to boycott http://burathanews.com/news/242131.html … Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · 23h Prior to today's aborted #Iraq parliament meeting, agreement on speaker & deputies reported: Jibburi, Hamudi, Sadun http://alliraqnews.com/index.php/2011-04-18-02-57-37/139043-2014-07-13-09-50-25 … Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · 24h 233 #Iraq MPs reportedly came to parliament today so quorum secured. Just pathetic that they couldn't elect speaker There is however still no published agenda for #Iraq parliament meeting Sunday http://ar.parliament.iq/LiveWebsites/Arabic/schedule.aspx … Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · 5h Will be positive and pathbreaking if #Iraq parliament goes ahead and elects speaker Sun without prior agreement on PM. Rumours say they may Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · 10h Going to take a long time to find Iraq PM if Shia alliance aims for both internal consensus & external acceptability for its candidate #PT Reidar Visser @reidarvisser · 10h Iraq MP: Shia alliance agreed on 3 PM criteria: Shia alliance member; internal Shia consensus; external acceptability http://burathanews.com/news/242068.html … =================== Iraq's Destruction Is a Reminder of the Ugly Face of American Empire Why are the cheerleaders of slaughter, who have been wrong about Iraq since before the invasion, still urging us toward ruin? Iraqi Turkmen pose with their weapons as they ready to fight against militants led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on June 21, 2014, in the Iraqi village of Basheer, south of Kirkuk June 23, 2014 The black-clad fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, sweeping a collapsing army and terrified Iraqis before them as they advance toward Baghdad, reflect back to us the ghoulish face of American empire. They are the specters of the hundreds of thousands of people we murdered in our deluded quest to remake the Middle East. They are ghosts from the innumerable roadsides and villages where U.S. soldiers and Marines, jolted by explosions of improvised explosive devices, responded with indiscriminate fire. They are the risen remains of the dismembered Iraqis left behind by blasts of Hellfire and cruise missiles, howitzers, grenade launchers and drone strikes. They are the avengers of the gruesome torture and the sexual debasement that often came with being detained by American troops. They are the final answer to the collective humiliation of an occupied country, the logical outcome of Shock and Awe, the Frankenstein monster stitched together from the body parts we left scattered on the ground. They are what we get for the $4 trillion we wasted on the Iraq War. The language of violence engenders violence. The language of hate engenders hate. “I and the public know what all schoolchildren learn,” W.H. Auden wrote. “Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.” It is as old as the Bible. There is no fight left in us. The war is over. We destroyed Iraq as a unified country. It will never be put back together. We are reduced—in what must be an act of divine justice decreed by the gods, whom we have discovered to our dismay are Islamic—to pleading with Iran for military assistance to shield the corrupt and despised U.S. protectorate led by Nouri al-Maliki. We are not, as we thought when we entered Iraq, the omnipotent superpower able in a swift and brutal stroke to bend a people to our will. We are something else. Fools and murderers. Blinded by hubris. Faded relics of the Cold War. And now, in the final act of the play, we are crawling away. Our empire is dying. We should have heeded, while we had a chance, the wails of mothers and fathers. We should have listened to the cries of the wounded. We should have wept over the bodies of Iraqi children lined up in neat rows in the morgues. We should have honored grief so we could honor life. But the dance of death is intoxicating. Once it begins you whirl in an ecstatic frenzy. Death’s embrace, which feels at first like sexual lust, tightens and tightens until you suffocate. Now the music has stopped. All we have left are loss and pain. And where are the voices of sanity? Why are the cheerleaders of slaughter, who have been wrong about Iraq since before the invasion, still urging us toward ruin? Why are those who destabilized Iraq and the region in the worst strategic blunder in American history still given a hearing? Why do we listen to simpletons and morons? They bang their fists. They yell. They throw tantrums. They demand that the world conform to their childish vision. It is as if they have learned nothing from the 11 years of useless slaughter. As if they can dominate that which they never had the power to dominate. I sat in a restaurant Thursday in Boston’s Kenmore Square with military historian Andrew Bacevich. You won’t hear his voice much on the airwaves. He is an apostate. He speaks of the world as it is, not the self-delusional world our empire builders expect it to be. He knows war with a painful intimacy, not only as a Vietnam combat veteran and a retired Army colonel but also as the father of a U.S. Army officer killed in a 2007 suicide bombing in Iraq. “In the 1990s there was a considerable effort made in the military, but also in the larger community of national security experts scratching their heads and [asking] what are the implications of all this technology,” he said. “They conceived of something called the Revolution in Military Affairs—RMA. If you believed in the Revolution of Military Affairs you knew that nothing could stop the United States military when it engaged in a conflict. Victory was, for all practical purposes, a certainty. People like Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, and I expect Dick Cheney also, bought this hook, line and sinker. You put yourself in their shoes in the wake of 9/11. An attack comes out of Afghanistan, a country frankly nobody cares about, and you conceive of this grand strategy of trying to transform the Islamic world. Where are we going to start? We are going to start by attacking a country [Iraq]—we had it under surveillance and sanctions for the past decade—where there is a bona fide bad guy to make a moral case and where we are confident we can make short work of this adversary, a further demonstration that the American military cannot be stopped. They utterly and totally miscalculated. Iraq is falling apart. And many of these people, either in government or outside of government, who were proponents of the war are now advocating for a resumption of the American war. Not one of them is willing to acknowledge the extent of that military miscalculation. Once you acknowledge it, then the whole project of militarizing U.S. policy towards the Greater Middle East collapses.” Bacevich blames the concentration of power into the hands of the executive branch for the debacle. He said that since the Kennedy administration “the incoming president and his team, it does not matter which party, see the permanent government as a problem. If we [the new officials] are going to get done what we want to get done we have to find ways to marginalize the permanent government. This has led to the centralization of authority in the White House and means decisions are made by a very small number of people. The consultation becomes increasingly informal, to the point it is not even documented.” “I do not think we even know when the decision to go to war with Iraq was actually made,” Bacevich said. “There is no documented meeting where [President George W.] Bush sat down with how many people—six, 10, 25—and said, ‘Let’s vote.’ The decision kind of emerged and therefore was implemented. Why would you operate that way? You would operate that way if you viewed the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the CIA and the State Department as, in a sense, the enemy.” “The invasion of Iraq was intended to be a catalyst,” he said. “It was supposed to be the catalyst that would enable us ... to change the region. It turned out to be the catalyst that resulted in destabilization. The big question of the moment is not what can we do or is there anything we can do to salvage Iraq. The question is to what degree have our actions resulted in this larger regional mayhem. And to the extent they have, isn’t it time to rethink fundamentally our expectations of what American power, and particularly American military power, can achieve?” “We need to take a radically different course,” Bacevich said. “There is an analogy to be made with Great Britain in the wake of World War I. It was in World War I that Britain and France collaborated to dismantle the Ottoman Empire to create the new Middle East. While on the one hand there was an awareness that Britain was in decline, at the level where policy was made there was not a willingness to consider the implications of that fact. It took World War II to drive it home—that the [British] empire was doomed. I think that is where we are.” Out of this decline, Bacevich said, is emerging a multipolar order. The United States will no longer be able to operate as an unchallenged superpower. But, he said, similar to the condition that existed as the British Empire took its last gasps, “there is very little willingness in Washington or in policy circles to take on board the implications multipolarity would call for in terms of adjusting our policy.” The inability to adjust to our declining power means that the United States will continue to squander its resources, its money and its military. “By squandering power we forfeit our influence because we look stupid and we bankrupt ourselves,” Bacevich said. “We will spend $4 trillion, not dollars spent in the moment but dollars we will have spent the last time the last Afghanistan veteran gets his last VA check. That money is gone forever. It is concealed because in the Bush administration’s confidence that victory would be easily won the government did not bother to mobilize the country or increase our taxes. We weaken ourselves economically. People complain about our crappy infrastructure. Give me $4 trillion and I probably could have fixed a couple of bridges. And we must never forget the human cost. Lives lost, lives damaged. And in these two wars [Afghanistan and Iraq] there does seem to be this increase in PTSD that we don’t know what to do about. It is a squandering of human capital.” Bacevich said the “military mind-set” has so infected the discourse of the power elite that when there is a foreign policy problem the usual response is to discuss “three different courses of military action. ... Should it be airstrikes with drones? Should it be airstrikes with manned aircraft? Special operations forces? Or some combination of all three? And that’s what you get.” The press, he said, is an “echo chamber and reinforces the notion that those are the [only] options.” The disintegration of Iraq is irreversible. At best, the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunnis will carve out antagonistic enclaves. At worst, there will be a protracted civil war. This is what we have bequeathed to Iraq. The spread of our military through the region has inflamed jihadists across the Arab world. The resulting conflicts will continue until we end our occupation of the Middle East. The callous slaughter we deliver is no different from the callous slaughter we receive. Our jihadists—George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle, Thomas Friedman and Tommy Franks—who assured us that swift and overwhelming force in Iraq would transform the Middle East into an American outpost of progress, are no less demented than the jihadists approaching Baghdad. These two groups of killers mirror each other. This is what we have spawned. And this is what we deserve. Chris Hedges, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, writes a regular column for Truthdig every Monday. Hedges' most recent book is "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle." ============================== Kurds seize Iraq oilfields, ministers pull out of government Fri, Jul 11 16:20 PM EDT By Raheem Salman and Mustafa Mahmoud BAGHDAD/KIRKUK (Reuters) - Kurdish forces seized two oilfields in northern Iraq and took over operations from a state-run oil company on Friday, while Kurdish politicians formally suspended their participation in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government. The moves escalated a feud between the Shi'ite-led central government and the autonomous Kurdish region driven by a Sunni insurgency which threatens to fragment Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines three years after the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Kurdish forces took over production facilities at the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oilfields near the city of Kirkuk, the oil ministry in Baghdad said. It called on the Kurds to withdraw immediately to avoid "dire consequences". Kurdish forces took control of nearby Kirkuk a month ago after Iraqi troops withdrew in the face of a lightning assault by Islamic State militants, who have seized large parts of northern and western Iraq. The two oilfields have a combined production capacity of 450,000 barrels per day but have not been producing significant volumes since March when Baghdad's Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline was sabotaged. An oil ministry spokesman in Baghdad described the takeover as dangerous and irresponsible and called for the Kurdish forces to withdraw immediately. Kurdish authorities said they had moved to "secure the oilfields of Bai Hassan and the Makhmour area" of the giant Kirkuk oilfield after hearing that the oil ministry planned to disrupt a pipeline designed to pump oil from Makhmour. Bai Hassan and the Makhmour part of the Kirkuk oilfield had been under the control of the state's North Oil Company (NOC). "The Kurdish Regional Government learned on Thursday that some officials in the federal Ministry of Oil gave orders to a number of NOC staff to cease their cooperation with the KRG and to dismantle or render inoperable the valves on the new pipeline," the Kurdish authorities said in a statement. The statement said the Bai Hassan field and other fields in the Makhmour district were under Kurdish government management and that NOC staff had been told they should cooperate with Kurdish authorities from Saturday or leave. It also said any production at the fields would be used primarily for domestic supply. The Baghdad ministry rejected Kurdish assertions that they had acted to protect oil infrastructure, saying it had worked to raise output at the fields and increase investment in local gasoline production. Fighting between government forces and militants is raging in and around several cities in northern and western Iraq, some insurgent-held - like Tikrit - and others under tenuous control of government forces like Ramadi in Anbar province. Security forces repelled an Islamic State militant surge on Friday on the Anbar Operations Command centre and police headquarters in Ramadi. Fighting lasted several hours before the militants were pushed back, a security source in Ramadi told Reuters, adding that the situation in Ramadi had worsened in recent weeks as the militants had become more aggressive in their attacks. On the southern edge of Kirkuk province, where thousands of displaced have fled from the city of Tikrit and other areas overrun by militants last month, 18 civilians were killed and 26 more severely wounded when a suicide bomber drove a car into a checkpoint, police and medics said. POLITICAL DEADLOCK Efforts to reach agreement on a new government in Baghdad to confront the insurgents have been complicated by the tensions between Maliki and the Kurds. The United States, the United Nations and Iraq's own Shi'ite clerics have urged lawmakers to form a new government swiftly to deal with the Sunni insurgency. The first session of the national parliament elected in April took place last week but failed to reach agreement on nominations for the top three government posts. The second had been due to be held on Tuesday but was delayed until Sunday. Regional Kurdish President Massoud Barzani told his parliament in Arbil last week to prepare a referendum on independence, infuriating Maliki. The relationship hit a new low this week when Maliki accused the Kurds of allowing their capital to be used as a base for the Islamic State and others, including former members of Saddam Hussein's now-banned Baath Party. In protest against the accusation, the Kurdish political bloc announced they were suspending participation in the Baghdad government on Friday. Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said the Kurds would continue to attend parliament. Zebari, who is a Kurd, said Iraq risked falling apart if a new inclusive government is not formed soon as "the country is now divided literally into three states - "Kurdish, a black state (ISIL) and Baghdad". Unless Iraqi leaders rose to the challenge "the consequences are very dire: complete fragmentation and failure" of the country, he said. Zebari said the suspension decision would be re-evaluated if Maliki apologised for his comments. After the announcement, Maliki appointed Hussain al-Shahristani, the deputy prime minister, as acting foreign minister, an official in Shahristani's office told Reuters. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri met Maliki in Baghdad on Friday to stress Cairo's support for efforts to avoid "the threat (of) sectarian confrontation and the spread of extremism and terrorism in the name of religion". CALL FOR CALM A spokesman for Kurdish leader Barzani said Maliki, who is seeking a third term in office in the face of political opposition, "has been afflicted by a true hysteria". The increasingly bitter political accusations prompted the country's senior Shi'ite cleric on Friday to urge Iraq's leaders to end their bickering and for fighters to avoid targeting people because off their sect or politics. "We have repeatedly called for the closing of ranks and for unity and to refrain from radical discourse," Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said in a sermon delivered by an aide. Sectarian rhetoric from politicians had already incited Iraqis and could destabilise things even further, he said. Tens of thousands of people responded to a call from Sistani on June 13 to take up arms against the Sunni insurgency. Fighters should "not ... transgress against any innocent citizen, no matter their sectarian or ethnic affiliation or whatever their political stance," aide Abdul Mehdi Al-Karbala’i told worshippers at the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala. A senior Iraqi Shi'ite politician has told Reuters that in the first week after Sistani's call, Sunnis were killed by militia that had quickly mobilised. They had now been brought under control. But there have been continued reports of disappearances and suspected mass killings. On Wednesday, south of Baghdad, Iraqi security forces found 53 corpses, blindfolded and handcuffed, with bullets to the chest and head. Locals found the corpses of three men on Friday in Injana village near the town of Adaim, north of Baghdad in Diyala province, a police officer told Reuters. The bodies were apparently dumped on the street. A medical source said the men had been killed recently because their bodies had not decomposed. The area is mainly Sunni. The identity of the dead was not immediately clear, the police officer said. Baghdad had seen few attacks compared to the violence in other areas hit by the Islamic State's offensive last month, though bombs still hit the capital on a fairly regular basis. In the predominately Shi'ite district of northern Baghdad, three civilians were killed by a roadside bomb on Friday afternoon, police and medics said. (Additional reporting by David Sheppard in London, Isabel Coles in Arbil, Isra' al-Rubei'i in Baghdad; Writing by Dominic Evans and Maggie Fick; Editing by Gareth Jones) ======================================================