The Iraqi Oil Ministry persuaded a U.S. judge to issue an order for the seizure of more than $100 million of oil in a tanker waiting off Galveston, Texas , that it claims was illegally pumped from wells in Kurdistan. Kurdish officials “misappropriated” more than 1 million barrels of oil from northern Iraq and exported it through a Turkish pipeline, according to a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Houston. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Johnson of Galveston hours later issued an order and arrest warrant authorizing U.S. marshals to seize the cargo and have it moved ashore for safekeeping until the dispute is resolved. The U.S. officially recognizes Kurdistan as part of Iraq, although the Kurdish people have jockeyed with the Baghdad-based national government for autonomy for more than a decade. Oil revenues from the northern oil fields could fuel Kurdistan’s fight for independence. The Iraqi government warned […]