ISIL Produces Nearly $800 Million of Oil a Year, IHS Energy Shows

The Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) produces nearly $2 million of oil a day. Bhushan Bahree, Senior Director of OPEC Middle East Research, explains to TheStreet’s Jill Malandrino oil fuels ISIL’s war machine and transport, allowing them to have power in the areas under their control . The terrorist organization controls as much as 350,000 barrels a day, but IHS estimates ISIL can only produce 50,000-60,000 barrels a day, which is plenty of money for them to carry out activities. Bahree explains ISIL discounts oil to less than half the value of Brent, using some of it for themselves, sells it domestically and middle men export the remainder, so no one can really tell where the oil came from by the time it gets into a storage tank. It is tough to quantify future revenue for ISIL as production has been degraded through the bombing campaign, so projecting forward will depend on how successful the campaign to destroy the oil facilities has been.