Kurdish oil exports complaint

The Maliki administration’s oil ministry refiles a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Galveston Division, in Houston asking American authorities to seize a cargo of Kurdish oil waiting off the coast of Texas. The request amends an earlier complaint asking for U.S. law enforcement to seize about one million barrels of crude, worth about $100 million, if the tanker attempts to discharge the oil at Galveston. It is one of several tankers carrying oil pumped from Kurdistan. The Kurdistan Regional Government has 21 days to respond to the new suit to avoid a default judgment against it by the court. A KRG official says there is no legal basis for Baghdad’s claims, and the tanker remains parked off the coast of Texas.