The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has raised global safety concerns since it reared its ugly head is reportedly earning over $3 million daily by producing about 80,000 barrels of oil in Iraq and Syria.
But the group is finding it difficult to maintain its gains and emerge as an energy player.
August was not a good month for ISIS, CNN quoted experts as saying. It lost its battle for one of Iraq’s biggest oil fields in Kirkuk, with potential production of 600,000 barrels a day, and could not keep control of Iraq’s largest refinery at Baiji.
What the militants do hold, Iraqi officials say, will need regular maintenance. So far, it is getting that work done only through intimidation of on-site engineers who are not loyal to the ISIS cause.
The Iraq Energy Institute estimates ISIS is producing about 30,000 barrels a day in Iraq and 50,000 daily in Syria. On a black market price of $40 a barrel, it is earning $1.2 million a day in Iraq and $2 million in Syria.
Energy traders and regional security specialists say supplies are being funneled into regional oil importing countries of Jordan, Turkey, and Syria.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/isis-struggles-control-some-iraqi-and-syrian-oil