BEIRUT (AP) – For the first time since the Unites States and five Arab countries started bombing positions of the Islamic State group in Syria, oil installations under control of the militants were targeted overnight and early on Thursday. Here is a look at the oil in the hands if the Islamic State group, which has overrun several large oil fields in Syria and a smaller one in Iraq.
HOW MANY OIL FIELDS DOES THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP CONTROL AND HOW DOES IT SELL THE OIL?
The group controls as many as 11 oil fields in both Syria and Iraq, analysts say. It is selling oil and other goods through generations-old smuggling networks under the very noses of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq as well as authorities in Turkey and Jordan.
Last year, the Islamic State group launched wide offensives in oil-rich areas in eastern Syria and was able to gain control of virtually all major oil fields, including the Omar oil field, Syria’s largest, with a capacity to produce 75,000 barrels a day. On the Iraqi side of the border, the group controls small fields in the central province of Salahuddin and the eastern Diyala province, including the Ajeel and Himrin fields.
HOW MUCH DOES THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP SELL ITS OIL FOR?