The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has given the green light to foreign operators to market their entitlement oil directly to markets, as Hungarian MOL became the first oil company with assets in Kurdistan to purchase directly a cargo of Kurdish oil. To date, the KRG has had limited success in selling its crude oil to refiners fearful of the threat of legal action by Baghdad.
The US, which mobilized its air force to come to the aid of the Iraqi Kurds threatened by the advance of Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) fighters, has yet to authorize the unloading of Kurdish oil cargoes on its soil, insisting the matter should first be resolved politically between Baghdad and Erbil. One of two tankers that sailed to the US failed to deliver their cargoes and one, the Minerva Joy, is reported to be heading to Europe. (CONTINUED - 1756 WORDS)
