Month: June 2014

Shipping data show tanker United Leadership, loaded with oil from the Kurdish north of Iraq, is still in the Atlantic Ocean because of Moroccan port issues. Moroccan authorities last weekend ordered the vessel to leave its territorial waters. United Leadership is loaded with more than 1 million barrels of Kurdish oil taken May 22 from the Turkish sea port of Ceyhan. It’s still idled in the Atlantic Ocean because of Moroccan port delays. There was no indication Monday of a new destination . The tanker’s May departure frustrated a central Iraqi government in Baghdad that says Kurdish oil sales are a violation of the national constitution. The semiautonomous Kurdish government said it was operating according to the rule of law. Last week, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said he is opposed to Baghdad’s objections because income from the oil sales would be distributed among the Iraqis themselves. Turkey’s main […]

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ISTANBUL—Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region shipped a second cargo of oil from Turkey’s Ceyhan port on Monday, doubling the amount of crude it has exported since late May even as the fate of a first shipment remains unclear amid legal threats from Baghdad. The United Emblem, registered in Greece, arrived in the Mediterranean Turkish port Sunday morning from Spain and set sail for an undisclosed destination at 2:15 p.m. local time on Monday, according to data from ship-tracking websites. Palmali Shipping, which acted as the ship’s agent, confirmed that the vessel was loaded at Ceyhan and sailed Monday. The tanker is carrying about a million barrels of crude from the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, according to two people familiar with the shipment. Kurdistan sent its maiden voyage of crude exports from the port late last month. The region has been pumping its oil from northern Iraq to Turkey since […]

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ISTANBUL—Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region shipped a second cargo of oil from Turkey’s Ceyhan port on Monday, doubling the amount of crude it has exported since late May even as the fate of a first shipment remains unclear amid legal threats from Baghdad. The United Emblem, registered in Greece, arrived in the Mediterranean Turkish port Sunday morning from Spain and set sail for an undisclosed destination at 2:15 p.m. local time on Monday, according to data from ship-tracking websites. Palmali Shipping, which acted as the ship’s agent, confirmed that the vessel was loaded at Ceyhan and sailed Monday. The tanker is carrying about a million barrels of crude from the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, according to two people familiar with the shipment. Kurdistan sent its maiden voyage of crude exports from the port late last month. The region has been pumping its oil from northern Iraq to Turkey since […]

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Iraqi officials say 15 people have been killed and more than two dozen have been wounded in a bomb attack on a funeral in the central city of Baqouba. Tuesday’s attack happened as insurgents further north overran symbols of government authority in the city of Mosul. Police say the explosion struck mourners gathered for the funeral of a Sunni university professor killed a day earlier. Police officials say the attack killed 15 people and wounded at least 27. A hospital official confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information. Baqouba is a city that is home to both Sunnis and Shiiites about 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below. Iraqi police and army forces abandoned their posts in the […]

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Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region shipped a second cargo of oil from Turkey’s Ceyhan port on Monday, doubling the amount of crude it has exported since late May even as the fate of a first shipment remains unclear amid legal threats from Baghdad. The United Emblem, registered in Greece, arrived in the Mediterranean Turkish port Sunday morning from Spain and set sail for an undisclosed destination at 2:15 p.m. local time on Monday, according to data from ship-tracking websites. Palmali Shipping, which acted as the ship’s agent, confirmed that the vessel was loaded at Ceyhan and sailed Monday. The tanker is carrying about a million barrels of crude from the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, according to two people familiar with the shipment. Kurdistan sent its maiden voyage of crude exports from the port late last month. The region has been pumping its oil from northern Iraq to Turkey since […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region shipped a second cargo of oil from Turkey’s Ceyhan port on Monday, doubling the amount of crude it has exported since late May even as the fate of a first shipment remains unclear amid legal threats from Baghdad. The United Emblem, registered in Greece, arrived in the Mediterranean Turkish port Sunday morning from Spain and set sail for an undisclosed destination at 2:15 p.m. local time on Monday, according to data from ship-tracking websites. Palmali Shipping, which acted as the ship’s agent, confirmed that the vessel was loaded at Ceyhan and sailed Monday. The tanker is carrying about a million barrels of crude from the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, according to two people familiar with the shipment. Kurdistan sent its maiden voyage of crude exports from the port late last month. The region has been pumping its oil from northern Iraq to Turkey since […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

Iraq security forces move towards Mosul on 8 June 2014 Reinforcements deployed to Mosul by the Iraqi military have failed to halt the militants’ advance Militants have taken control of parts of Mosul, officials say, on a fifth day of fighting in the northern Iraqi city. Overnight, hundreds of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and machine-guns seized the provincial government’s headquarters. They also destroyed several police stations before moving towards the top-security prison and military airport. On Tuesday morning, one interior ministry official said Mosul was "outside the control of the state". In the past week, the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) and its allies have carried out major attacks on cities and towns in western and northern Iraq, killing scores of people. Parts of Ramadi, the capital of the western province […]

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New Exxon-Turkey contracts bolster Kurdish export plans A night view of the rig drilling ExxonMobil’s Maseif-1 well at the Pirmam block in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. (PATRICK OSGOOD/Iraq Oil Report) This spring, as U.S. diplomats worked to broker a temporary solution to the oil disputes between Iraq’s federal government and the autonomous Kurdistan region, the largest American oil company was quietly making a contrasting pitch. ExxonMobil was in negotiations with the state-owned Turkish Energy Company (TEC), which was keen to take a stake in the super-major’s six exploration contracts in Kurdistan. But the talks weren’t just about the contracts, according to two people involved in the de… This content is for registered users. Please login to continue. If you are not a registered user, you may purchase a subscription or sign up for a free trial .

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Al-Sadr bloc says to join opposition if Maliki named PM World Bulletin/News Desk The parliamentary bloc of Iraqi Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr said Sunday that it would join the opposition if Nouri al-Maliki assumed a third term as prime minister of Iraq. "Al-Maliki’s two previous terms tell us that he will not succeed in a third," Diaa al-Asadi, the secretary-general of al-Sadr’s Ahrar bloc, told Anadolu Agency. He said al-Sadr’s bloc does not have a personal problem with al-Maliki but with his monopoly over independent agencies affiliated to the Iraqi parliament. Al-Asadi added that by joining in the opposition to al-Maliki, Ahrar bloc will monitor the performance of his government. Iraq’s three main Shiite coalitions, including al-Maliki’s State of the Law and Sadr’s Ahrar, won 161 out of 328 seats in Iraq’s parliament in the April’s legislative election. Al-Maliki’s State of the Law insists that he must lead the […]

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An Iraqi man looks at a destroyed mini bus at the site of car bomb attack in the northern city of Kirkuk on June 4, 2014 Baghdad (AFP) – Three days of major jihadist attacks around Iraq, including on a university, have left dozens dead in a stark display of militant strength and the country’s enormous security challenges. Militants assaulted the city of Samarra, battled security forces in Mosul, took hundreds of hostages at Anbar University in Ramadi and carried out numerous other attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere. Iraq is suffering its worst violence in years, and with none of the myriad problems that contribute to the heightened unrest headed for quick resolutions, the bloodshed is likely to continue unabated. Powerful jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been blamed for most of the latest attacks, and is believed to be responsible for much of […]

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