(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.
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There may be the equivalent of 45 billion barrels of oil under Kurdish land
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U.S. opposes sales as a destabilizing factor
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The Kurdish government needs cash quickly
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Iraq is "falling apart," the region's President says
Ceyhan
The KRG began exporting small amounts of crude oil in trucks last year, but the pipeline to @placeholder gives it the opportunity to scale up.
Turkish
Turkey says it regards the sales and the use of a @placeholder port as legitimate, but also has political interests at stake in a complex regional picture.
Kurds
But the KRG needs cash -- lots of it and quickly -- because negotiations with Baghdad over the @placeholder' share of oil revenues have stalled.
Kurds
"If something is legitimate or legal -- as both the @placeholder 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?"
Kurdish Regional Government
KRG
Kurdish
Kurdish
"If something is legitimate or legal -- as both the Kurds and Turkey claim -- why then does the sale of @placeholder crude remain shrouded in so much mystery and murkiness, with transfers at sea, and buyers and prices not being identified?"
Kurdish Regional Government
KRG
Kurdish
Kurdish
Iraqi @placeholder leader: 'We are facing a new reality and a new Iraq'
Iraqi
Iraq
Iraq
Iraqi Kurdish leader: 'We are facing a new reality and a new @placeholder'