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Asphalt refiner halts Kurdish crude imports

  • Märkte: Crude oil, Oil products
  • 11.08.14

An asphalt refiner became the second US company to refuse disputed oil produced in northern Iraq until the country's central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government resolve ownership of the commodity.

Axeon Specialty Products, an asphalt refining operation with refineries including a 30,000 b/d refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey, said late yesterday it would no longer accept the crude. The company's comment arrived the same day the medium-range tanker Minerva Joy, loaded in Dortyol, Turkey, with heavy barrels trucked over from the Kurdistan region of Iraq, anchored in international waters off the New Jersey shore.

The decision further erodes Kurdish ability to raise money through crude sales as the regional government implored the US and others for resources and assistance against militants aligned with the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (Isis).

"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," Axeon said in a statement.

It's not clear if the company previously processed Kurdish crude or if the company had a contract for the Minerva Joy shipment. The company would not comment.

The asphalt refiner joins LyondellBasell in publicly addressing deliveries of northern Iraqi crude following a suit filed 28 July by the Iraqi central government.

Iraq's oil ministry alleged KRG illegally marketed more than 1mn bl of crude transported by the United Kalavryta and requested impoundment. The Kurdish government denied both the court's jurisdiction over the shipment and Iraq's assertion that the cargo was illegal. The shipments are legal under the Iraqi constitution, KRG insists.

The United Kalavryta remains anchored in international waters off the Texas coast, outside the authority of the US court. A lightering company successfully ended its contract without unloading the cargo, and the crude's future remains uncertain.

Iraq's central government must respond to a KRG push to dismiss the seizure by end of day 14 August. The central government has made no such claim against the Minerva Joy.

The KRG meanwhile worked to maintain production supplying cargoes loaded in Turkey. The company pushed companies operating in fields and blocks near battles with Isis to not suspend operations.

eb/tdf

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