Adds quote from KRG minister, updates AET case to reflect request for dismissal.
Kurdish government officials warn of "massive counterclaims against the federal government" of Iraq in a letter to a US court, insisting a disputed cargo of Iraqi crude off the coast of Texas was legally produced.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said in a statement it did not consent to the jurisdiction of US courts and was authorized under the Iraqi constitution to ship the roughly 1mn bl of crude. KRG said it will press claims for unpaid compensation under the constitution in any foreign court where lawsuits similar to one brought by the Iraqi central government seeking to block the shipment.
"The federal government of Iraq is trying to achieve in foreign courts and in Iraqi supreme court what is denied to the federal government by the Iraqi constitution," the KRG minister of natural resources Ashti Hawrami said in a statement. "The federal government cannot win, because our crude is legally produced, shipped, exported and sold in accordance with the rights of the Kurdistan Region as set forth in the Iraqi constitution."
The United Kalavryta dropped anchor over the weekend about 60 miles (96km) offshore from the Texas port of Galveston, where it waited to lighter its cargo. The tanker was loaded in May in Cehyan, Turkey, with crude from the Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
Turkey does not recognize the Iraqi claims, according to the KRG. The US State Department said Iraqi crude should be sold through the central government and warned of possible legal disputes but has not barred US companies from purchasing the shipments.
The Republic of Iraq's oil ministry insists it is an illegal cargo and earlier this week filed a request to seize the crude in US federal court in Texas.
US district judge Nancy Johnson ordered US Marshals to seize the cargo from any lightering vessels and serve the tanker with orders to move its cargo to a secure storage facility. But the tanker remains outside US territorial waters and the court's jurisdiction, so marshals may not seize the cargo unless it is brought closer to shore.
AET Offshore, the lightering company contracted to move the barrels, today asked a judge to drop a requested restraining order which would have prevented it from having to comply with its contract until the ownership of the crude is settled. The request may indicate that the KRG is not going to force AET to offload the oil.
Johnson made clear to attorneys yesterday that the dispute belonged elsewhere.
"Basically, it seems like this fight between your clients should be resolved in Iraq," Johnson said.
eb/tdf
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