Islamic terrorists in the Mideast are producing crude oil valued at an estimated $800 million a year, according to a report from Douglas County-based research firm IHS.
The report concludes that proceeds from selling the oil is funding the war effort by the terrorist group alternately known as ISIL or ISIS.
“Oil fuels ISIL’s war machine, notably including the military vehicles vital to its movements and fighting capabilities,” the IHS analysis said. “Oil directly finances ISIL’s myriad activities and encourages the activities of middlemen who sell, transport and export the oil and thus have a vested interest in ISIL.”
IHS said the Islamic group is making about $2 million a day in sales of .
The group is generating the revenue despite producing only a fraction of the amount of crude that was pumped before ISIL took control of the oilfields.
ISIL controls as much as 350,000 barrels per day in capacity but is able to produce only 50,000 to 60,000 barrels a day, according to IHS.
It sells the oil on the black market, primarily from trucks that run on smuggling routes along the Turkish border. ISIL sells crude at a steeply discounted price averaging $40 a barrel, IHS estimates, compared to prevailing market prices of about $85.
and has notified all countries that purchasing such oil violates U.N. sanctions.
IHS said that recent U.S.-led airstrikes have degraded ISIL’s ability to produce, refine and transport the oil.
“More change in the control of oil fields are inevitable in northern Iraq and Syria as the fight against ISIL continues,” the report said. “ISIL is intent in expanding its territory. Should it do so, other oil fields and processing facilities may fall under its control, bolstering its resources.”
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
