An oil tanker shipping crude from Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region turned back after getting almost 320 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean, amid a challenge over the shipment’s legality.
The United Leadership, able to haul 1 million barrels, signalled that it was about 8km off Mohammedia in Morocco at about 6pm local time on Monday, according to information entered by the ship’s crew and captured by Coulsdon, England-based IHS Maritime. It turned back on Friday after getting about 300km west of Gibraltar, at which point it was sailing to the US Gulf. The shipment is illegal, Somo, Iraq’s oil marketing company, has said.
The tanker “has arrived at its destination”, Kurdish news website Rudaw reported, citing Safeen Dizayee, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government. Rudaw did not specify the destination.
“There will be a lot of attention focused on where that tanker heads because it is potentially a milestone, the first cargo,” said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects in London.
“That would discourage any potential buyers. It may also limit the Kurds’ options, it may force them to accept discounts on the price that they can sell for.” Three calls to the KRG’s natural resources ministry were not answered and an email was not returned. United Leadership is owned by Marine Management Services, according to a database IHS maintains for the United Nations shipping agency. Four calls to the company’s offices in Piraeus, Greece were not returned and the line went dead when Bloomberg News asked for an email address for Marine Management’s directors.
The KRG estimates its region has about 45 billion barrels of crude reserves. Iraq itself has about 150 billion barrels. A dispute between the two sides escalated last month when the Kurds began pumping oil through their own pipeline to Ceyhan, the Turkish port in the Mediterranean Sea from where ship tracking data shows United Leadership loaded its cargo.
Iraq said last month that it sought arbitration over Kurdish oil sales at the International Chamber of Commerce. Some said that buyers should not purchase the cargo. The KRG says it is abiding by the Iraqi constitution, according to its website. Shipping signals can be inaccurate because much of the information is entered manually and because not all data are captured.
“Nowadays, due to technology, it has become easy to track any shipped oil and anyone who will deal with this oil may face problems,” said Asim Jihad, a spokesman for Iraq’s oil ministry.
Disputes about cargoes sometimes delay merchant ships. A tanker called the ETC Isis spent months marooned off Singapore in 2012 as part of a dispute between northern and southern Sudan. Earlier this year, US special forces boarded a tanker shipping crude from eastern Libya that the nation’s government said was illegally shipped.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
How it works
1) The liquid nanoclay is a mixture of water and clay that aims to convert desert land to fertile ground
2) Instead of water draining straight through the sand, it apparently helps the soil retain water
3) One application is said to last five years
4) The cost of treatment per hectare (2.4 acres) of desert varies from $7,000 to $10,000 per hectare
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950