Reuters reported today that a tanker carrying oil from Kurdistan is anchored in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon and is prepared to dock Saturday.

Officials said Israel was keen to build good ties with the Kurds, hoping to expand its limited diplomatic network in the Middle East and broaden options for energy supplies.

It was not clear whether the crude in the SCF Altai has been sold to a local refiner or was slated to discharge into storage, potentially for another destination.

The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) built a pipeline through Turkey in order to evade the Iraqi central government’s oil pipeline system. Iraq objects to independent Kurdish oil sales.

In May, Reuters reported that American and Israeli refineries were among those buying oil from the KRG.

For an in-depth look at the prospects of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, see Jonathan Spyer’s Say it Again. Kurdish Independence Now in the August 2013 issue of The Tower Magazine.

[Photo: Mirava News / YouTube ]