By John Lee.
A report by Chris Dalby of Oilprice.com finds that the 11 oil fields that IS controls in Iraq and Syria have made it a largely independent financial machine.
Its fields in Iraq alone are thought to produce between 25,000 and 40,000 barrels of oil per day, earning it an estimated $1.2 million [1.4 billion Iraqi dinars] daily, while adding the Syrian fields brings this to nearly $3 million.
The oil is sold at a discount of anything up to 75 percent.
Luay al-Khatteeb, the director of the Iraq Energy Institute, told CNN:
“The crude is transported by tankers to Jordan via Anbar province, to Iran via Kurdistan, to Turkey via Mosul, to Syria's local market and to the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where most of it gets refined locally.
“Turkey has turned a blind eye to this and may continue to do so until they come under pressure from the West to close down oil black markets in the country's south.”
(Source: Oilprice.com)
(Oil image via Shutterstock)
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