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Oil from Northern Iraq Arrives in U.S. after Pipeline via Turkey Reopens
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Noam Raydan and James Jeffrey - On Nov. 24 - two months after the reopening of the Iraq-Turkey Pipeline (ITP) - an oil tanker laden with crude from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) sailed from the Turkish port of Ceyhan and discharged at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port terminal. The shipment would not have been possible without a U.S.-facilitated interim deal in September to reopen the ITP after a halt of more than two years. U.S. refiners are importing northern Iraqi crude due to an appetite for medium sour crudes of the type produced there. Although the U.S. exports light sweet crude, it imports medium, heavy sour, and other types from the Middle East and Latin America in order to address demand from refineries designed to operate on these feedstocks. To attract buyers, firms exporting Iraqi Kurdish oil via Ceyhan reportedly offered steep discounts. Noam Raydan is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, where James Jeffrey, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, is a Distinguished Fellow.