( CNN ) -- For sale : One million barrels of crude oil . Attractive discount offered . Currently sitting off Moroccan coast . That 's what the Iraqi Kurds are offering potential buyers , much to the fury of the government in Baghdad . It amounts to a declaration of economic independence , fraying the already tattered ties holding Iraq together . Here 's how it works : . The Kurdish Regional Government , or KRG , deals with oil exploration companies independent of the central government . Exxon Mobil , Chevron and Total are among the companies working in Iraqi Kurdistan . The crude produced there goes through a pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan in the Mediterranean . Then it 's loaded onto tankers and floats about until it finds a buyer . The proceeds are held in a Turkish bank ; the Kurds say they will take 17 % and the Iraqi government is entitled to the rest . Who are the Iraqi Kurds ? Along with the Shiite Arabs and the Sunni Arabs , the Kurds are one of the three dominant groups in the fractious and diverse nation of Iraq . While most Kurds are Sunnis and a minority are Shiite , they identify first as an ethnic group . They are distinct from Arabs and speak an Iranian language . The Kurdish population numbers 15 % to 20 % of Iraq , which has a population of 32,585,000 , according to an estimate from the CIA World Factbook . There are also large Kurdish populations in the neighboring countries of Iran , Syria and Turkey , with varying levels of independence aspirations . The KRG rules an autonomous region with its own Cabinet , parliament , president and military forces . The region consists of three provinces In Iraq 's north : Irbil , Sulaimaniya , and Duhuk . The Kurds had been oppressed by Iraq 's Saddam Hussein government , but the area has avoided much of the country 's warfare since Hussein 's overthrow in 2003 . Today , Iraqi Kurdistan is regarded as a relatively stable and economically booming Middle East success story , thanks to its oil clout . Scaling up . The KRG began exporting small amounts of crude oil in trucks last year , but the pipeline to Ceyhan gives it the opportunity to scale up . Industry sources say more than 100,000 barrels are flowing through the pipeline every day , and more than 2 million barrels are already stored at Ceyhan . Altogether , there may be the equivalent of 45 billion barrels of oil under Kurdish land in Iraq , according to the KRG . Aligning with Israel . The most recent buyer appears to be Israeli . Late Friday , the SCF Altai docked at the port of Ashkelon , having taken on a load of Kurdish crude from another tanker in the Mediterranean a week ago . Why Israel ? It 's not clear who the buyer is , or whether the oil changed hands once or more before finding its final destination . But the Israelis may see the Kurds as a natural ally in a region where both feel they are threatened minorities . Problems offloading . Another much larger cargo -- said to contain 1 million barrels -- has been at sea for more than a month . According to shipping sources , the United Leadership tanker was at anchor off Casablanca in Morocco late last week , still looking for a buyer . Ship tracking databases had the vessel listed as `` For Orders , '' meaning its cargo does not yet have a destination . SEE MAPS : Where ISIS has taken over in Iraq . The United Leadership 's limbo suggests that despite reportedly offering big discounts for its crude , the KRG is having problems offloading it . Some buyers are worried about Baghdad 's threat to sue anyone who buys Iraqi oil other than through the state company . The Iraqi government has already blacklisted some agents and importers of Kurdish oil , including the Austrian company OMV . Other buyers . Reuters reported earlier this month that Russian oil company Rosneft had bought a cargo of Kurdish crude for a refinery in Germany that it co-owns . Forty one thousand tonnes of oil -- which had been trucked from Kurdistan to Ceyhan -- were carried by the Minerva Antonia tanker to Trieste in Italy and then sent by pipeline to Germany , the agency reported . Turkey says it regards the sales and the use of a Turkish port as legitimate , but also has political interests at stake in a complex regional picture . Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has developed close ties with the Kurdish leadership in Iraq -- partly to dissuade it from making common cause with Turkey 's restive Kurdish minority . Turkey also wants to diversify its sources of energy . It concluded a 50-year deal with the KRG this month ( though details of the agreement remain sketchy ) . 'Playing with fire ' The Iraqi government has begun legal action against Ankara at the International Court of Arbitration . Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani warned Turkey that it was `` playing with fire '' and `` plundering Iraq 's wealth . '' The United States also opposes the Kurdish sales as a further destabilizing factor in a country at risk of breaking apart . Producing or refining companies working in parts of Iraq still under the control of the central government seem to be avoiding involvement with the Kurds ' unilateral action . Need for cash . But the KRG needs cash -- lots of it and quickly -- because negotiations with Baghdad over the Kurds ' share of oil revenues have stalled . It has also borrowed heavily . Its monthly wage bill is more than $ 700 million -- that 's 70 % of the entire budget just going on salaries . And now that its peshmerga forces are fully mobilized in protecting Kurdistan from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria , or ISIS , that spending is likely to rise . According to a recent study by BoA Merrill Lynch , the KRG would need monthly sales from 20 tankers holding a million barrels of oil each to make $ 340 million . Fraught with peril . But Denise Natali , senior research fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington , believes the sales are fraught with peril . `` The key issue is transparency and risk-free exports , '' she told CNN . `` If something is legitimate or legal -- as both the Kurds and Turkey claim -- why then does the sale of Kurdish crude remain shrouded in so much mystery and murkiness , with transfers at sea , and buyers and prices not being identified ? '' `` Any sales that may eventually occur will still be considered illicit trading by Baghdad ; and that will entail litigation and brings with it reputational damage . '' A price . As the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad tries to stave off advances by ISIS , the Kurds are in a strong bargaining position . Their peshmerga forces have been able to repulse ISIS attempts to infiltrate the Kurdish region -- and might yet help government forces go on the offensive . But there will be a price . Above all , the KRG wants the major city of Kirkuk -- which it now occupies and where Kurds , Turkmen and Sunni all live -- to be recognized as part of the Kurdish autonomous region . The KRG 's President , Masoud Barzani , told CNN 's Christiane Amanpour on Monday that Iraq was `` falling apart ... and it 's obvious that the federal or central government has lost control over everything . '' `` And we can not remain hostages of the unknown , '' he added . CNN EXCLUSIVE : `` Time is here for self-determination '' A new confrontation ? Peshmerga forces last week took control of the Kirkuk oilfield , strengthening the Kurds ' hold over Iraq 's northern oilfields . The Kirkuk oilfield is Iraq 's fourth largest but badly in need of investment . But Natali , who has followed events in Iraq for more than 20 years , says the Kurds ' assertiveness may end up generating a new confrontation . `` Barzani does have leverage over the Maliki government because it is so weak , and the Kurds ' occupation of the Kirkuk fields does strengthen their short-term bargaining position . But such weakness and politically expedient alliances may not last forever , '' she says . `` The Maliki government may be replaced by a more inclusive and therefore stronger government in Baghdad , or a Sunni Arab state may emerge on the Kurds ' doorstep that may not be amenable to Kurdish demands . '' Relying on Turkey . The Kurds are also very reliant on Turkey 's goodwill . `` The Iraqi Kurds are increasingly dependent on Turkey as a conduit for their oil and financing , '' Natali told CNN , `` and the close relationship between Barzani and Erdogan is largely responsible for the current arrangement . But some groups in the Turkish parliament and some Iraqi Kurdish politicians have been very critical of this opaque arrangement , '' wary of ruining relations with Baghdad and alienating Washington . For now , the Turkish and Kurdish governments appear to feel that the retaliation threatened by Baghdad can be ignored . Turkey 's Energy Ministry said last week it expected another shipment of Kurdish oil to leave Ceyhan soon . According to a ship tracking database , that oil is aboard the 85,000-tonne Greek-registered United Emblem , which left the port at the weekend -- destination unknown . Where is Iraq 's oil ? Western-born jihadists rally to ISIS 's fight in Iraq and Syria . Iraqi Kurdish leader : 'We are facing a new reality and a new Iraq '
There may be the equivalent of 45 billion barrels of oil under Kurdish land . U.S. opposes sales as a destabilizing factor . The Kurdish government needs cash quickly . Iraq is `` falling apart , '' the region 's President says .