With $100 million cargo, oil tanker vanishes

02/09/2014

The US Coast Guard has lost track of a Kurdish tanker carrying $100 million in disputed oil off the coast of Texas. Headed for Galveston, the United Kalavyrvta was anchored at least 60 miles off-shore when it vanished from radar screens. The ship's haul fell under legal dispute when Iraq filed a lawsuit in US courts, urging American officials to grab the ship's oil in Galveston because it belongs to Iraq, not the Kurdish National Government.
However, Kurds claimed it’s theirs and insist they need oil-export dollars to survive and fund their future independence.
In any case, a US court denied the lawsuit Monday because America has no jurisdiction over ships more than 60 miles off the coast. Meanwhile, the United Kalavyrvta may have moved beyond US antennas or could be suffering technical problems, the US Coast Guard said.
It's not unusual for ships to vanish from radar systems when transporting disputed oil. In fact, a few days ago, a Kamari ship with Kurdish oil "went dark" near Egypt's Sinai and turned up near Israel two days later, its oil gone.

Last Update:: 02/09/2014

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