by Eli Leon and Israel Hayom Staff
British Financial Times: Israel has imported 75% of its oil from Kurdish region recently, providing "vital source of funds" for fight against Islamic State • "We do not care where the oil goes once we have delivered it to traders," says Kurdish adviser.
An oil facility in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq in a May 2009 file photo Photo credit: AP
 |
Israel has imported around 75% of its oil in recent months from the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, the British Financial Times newspaper reported on Sunday.
The report called the Israeli oil purchases "a vital source of funds" for the Kurdish fight against the Islamic State group. Other major purchasers of Kurdish oil include Italy, France and Greece.
The Kurdish oil trade is conducted through prepaid deals brokered by international companies, such as Vitol and Trafigura.
According to shipping data, trading sources and satellite tanker tracking cited by the report, Israeli refineries and oil companies imported more than 19 million barrels of Kurdish oil between the beginning of May and August 11 this year, a total worth around $1 billion based on international prices during that period.
The report said the sales to Israel represented "another fissure" between the Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government in Baghdad. The Iraqi government does not recognize Israel and has no official ties with it.
The Kurdistan Regional Government said it did not sell oil "directly or indirectly" to Israel, but, according to the report, ties between the Kurds and Israel go back several decades.
"We do not care where the oil goes once we have delivered it to the traders," a senior Kurdish government adviser in Erbil was quoted as saying. "Our priority is getting the cash to fund our Peshmerga forces against Daesh [Islamic State] and to pay civil servant salaries."
Eli Leon and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=27797
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment