ISIS continues to push the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan, Syria, and various Syrian rebel faction, but the territory they’ve amassed in their “Caliphate” is already substantial, both in its size and its oil production.
The push into northern Iraq has seen them take 7 oil fields, all relatively small, but combined they amount to 80,000 barrels per day of capacity. At current prices, that’s about $8.4 million a day.
And it’s only the tip of the iceberg. ISIS has already amassed a large portion of Syria’s overall oil reserves. How much of the production remains usable in the midst of the civil war is unclear, but is believed to be hundreds of thousands of additional barrels per day.
All told, that would make the Islamic State one of the top 30 oil producers on the planet, and while they can’t exactly export it anywhere, their control over the key Baiji Refinery in Iraq will allow them to use it to produce fuel for their many captured vehicles.
Even this may not be the final story on ISIS, however, with their ongoing push into Kurdish territory bringing them close to some major oil fields on the outskirts of Kirkuk, which could easily double their overall production capacity, while sending Iraq’s spiraling downward.
Already, Iraq’s oil production is down 120,000 bpd from June to July reflecting both the loss of the 80,000 bpd ISIS seized outright and a drop of 40,000 from Iraqi Kurdistan attributable to evacuation of foreign staff at those sites.
So how does this work? IS takes over an oilfield and keeps it running. The oil is then handed to Exxon, or to some middle men. They'll buy it as they would from a functioning state and off it goes to make its rounds and make millions for everyone it touches. How do these people pay IS? In cash? In an account at HSBC or BofA? Something tells me that whoever makes these deals with IS isn't put on the list of those who provide material support to terrorists. And why don't these IS partners have some concern about dealing with a bunch of killers? I'm sure the US could clearly state that doing commerce with these guys is a no no, that would help in some regard. Would love to read an insider's account of how these oil deals work.
Your questions are put to rest when you know ISIS is western and zionist backed and supported.
And the US/EU oil companies via Saudi Arabia and Kuwait or Qatar are making deals with the devil himself where Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Clinton calls it democracy in action.