An oil tanker docked off the coast of Texas may struggle to unload 1 million barrels of controversial Kurdish crude oil destined for an unknown buyer in the United States, as Iraq's lawyers work feverishly to stop the sale process.

The tanker, United Kalavryta, was cleared on Sunday by the U.S. Coast Guard to unload its cargo onto smaller vessels that can navigate the Houston Ship Channel. But a sale would likely enrage the Iraqi government in Baghdad, which sees oil from Kurdistan as its own.



The U.S. government still officially recognizes the Kurdish north of Iraq as part of Iraq's sovereign territory, though the Kurdish regional government has wrangled repeatedly over the last year with the largely Shiite government in Baghdad about exporting oil—and generating profits—on its own.

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In recent months, the Kurds have expanded their control of oil facilities in the north further after a Sunni-led uprising effectively wiped out central government authority there.

While much of the world's focus is on the Sunni insurgency in the northwest of the country, international observers say the bigger threat that could break up Iraq is Kurdistan. The Kurds have long desired to have their own country, and if they are able to sell their own oil, they will have revenue independent of Baghdad.

