ERBIL, Iraq, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- A Texas court ruling to dismiss an order to seize Kurdish oil parked off the U.S. coast should give potential buyers confidence, the Kurdish government said.
A Texas judge had ordered U.S. Marshals to seize Kurdish oil loaded onto the United Kalavrvta tanker, parked off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in international waters. The semiautonomous Kurdish government and the federal government in Baghdad filed competing claims in Texas, though the court eventually sided with the Kurdish claims that its oil could reach U.S. ports.
"The ruling of the Texas court should give confidence to buyers of Kurdistan crude oil in the United States and elsewhere," Kurdish Minister of Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said in a statement Tuesday.
The minister said all Kurdish crude oil exports and sales are legal according to the terms spelled out in the Iraqi constitution, a claim countered by Baghdad.
The U.S. government in the past has sided with the Iraqi government, which says it has the sole authority over exports. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the issue was a commercial matter.
"The United States government is not involved," she said.
