Official: ISIS is selling Iraqi oil

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has started selling oil extracted from wells close to the Hamrin Mountains, the head official in Tuzhurmatu, in the northern Iraqi province of Salahuddin, said.

“The oil extracted from wells close to Hamrin Mountains and Baiji refinery, is being smuggled to black markets,” Selal Abdul told the Anadolu Agency.

Abdul said that the central Iraqi government in Baghdad was preparing the oil of Salahuddin province for sale before ISIS seized control of the oil-rich areas and started selling oil – in hundreds of tankers – to various places.

“ISIS militants are selling the oil to anyone available, to get money for their weapons and ammunition,” Abdul said.

The Iraqi official noted that the Kurdish peshmerga forces stopped the sale of oil at first, but later allowed tankers to transfer and sell oil.

The Deputy Head for Tuzhurmatu district council, Ali Huseyni, said ISIS sells crude oil extracted from the wells located between the cities of Kirkuk and Salahuddin. The group makes hundreds of thousands of dollars out of oil sales, Huseyni added.