The Financial Times has reported that between May and August, Israel imported 19 million barrels of oil from Kurdistan, totaling over $1 billion in spending and about 75 percent of Israel's total demand. The Kurds have struggled to control their own economy -- and their anti-Islamic State fighters -- amid what they consider weak support from the central government in Baghdad. (RELATED: Iraqi Politicians Pass Around Blame For Rise Of ISIS)
Oil from Kurdistan presumably makes its way to Israel via private dealers to Turkey, at which point it is difficult to trace back to its origins. The Financial Times suggested that purchasing Kurdish oil is a way for Israel to covertly bolster Iraq's politically isolated Kurds.
The Kurdistan Regional Government denies having sold oil to Israel "directly or indirectly." And for its part, Israel did not provide comment to the Financial Times, since it considers the oil market a matter of national security.