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Kurdish exports in limbo

The KRG has a willing buyer, but its first pipeline exports remain unsold due to pressure from Baghdad and Washington.
Samir's Mohammedia refinery in Morocco, upgraded in 2009 by Tekfen Engineering. (Source: Tekfen Engineering)

ANKARA - The Kurdish-chartered oil tanker United Leadership is stuck in a purgatory of political and legal controversy, sailing in circles off the coast of Morocco.

The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has not yet offloaded its first-ever ship full of independent pipeline exports, and no money has landed in the KRG's account in Turkey's Halkbank, according to two senior Turkish government officials. For the moment, at least, the sale has been prevented by legal and commercial threats from Baghdad and diplomatic pressure on the Moroccan government from both Iraq and the U.S.

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