Airstrikes choke off oil revenue that funds Islamic State
Raid helped U. S. learn how system worked
An air campaign aimed at crippling the Islamic State’s lucrative oil smuggling business has reduced the terror group’s revenue from a peak of about $ 1.3million a day to less than $ 1million, a top State Department official said.
Damage to the group’s oil infrastructure and distribution networks causes blackouts and fuel shortages in areas controlled by the Islamic State, said Amos Hochstein, the State Department’s special envoy for energy affairs.
“I believe we can take it further and further down,” Hochstein told USA TODAY.
The coalition got amajor boost from a raid last year that provided a trove of useful information about howthe Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, makes money from oil. That helped military analysts choose effective targets.
Revenue from oil represents the bulk of the organization’s budget, funding terror operations and providing resources to govern territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.
The Islamic State’s key oil- producing facilities are in eastern Syria. The group also controls large swaths of Iraq, but oil- producing regions there have been recaptured by Kurdish or Iraqi forces.
The U. S.- led air campaign has targeted oil infrastructure. The strikes were initially aimed at oil refineries and other infrastructure in the hopes of crippling production. The Pentagon estimates the campaign has reduced production to 34,000 barrels a day from a peak of 45,000.
Still, military and intelligence analysts concluded the Islamic State was able to quickly repair production facilities within territory it controlled.
The coalition began striking tanker trucks used to deliver oil. Aircraft dropped leaflets warning drivers to exit their vehicles before striking them. More than 400 trucks have been destroyed by the airstrikes.