ISIS black market trade made it the world’s wealthiest organisation

Iraqi Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said on Wednesday that ISIS sells crude oil for less than $30 per barrel in the black market.

As of 13:20 GMT on Wednesday, US crude oil’s price fell by 1.87 per cent to $52.97 per barrel, while Brent crude’s price fell by 1.42 per cent to $58.26 per barrel.

ISIS takes control of small Iraqi oil fields in the north and west of the country as well as fields in Syria, and sells derived quantities on the black market to finance its operations.

In a press statement that was made available to Anadolu Agency, Abdul-Mahdi said that ISIS sells a barrel of oil at less than $30 pointing out that the purpose behind ISIS’s attack on the Alas and Aujil oil fields (in Salahuddin province north) is for them to obtain funding through controlling the oil.

The Iraqi forces have recovered the two fields last March from ISIS, who set fire to a number of wells before withdrawing from the area. However, the Iraqi oil ministry put out the fire later on.

Abd Al-Mahdi demanded the Iraqi ministries to cooperate with his ministry against what he described as merchants of war.

“We need an extensive diplomatic campaign to cooperate with all neighbouring countries that constitute the markets for smuggled oil,” he added.

He noted that preventing ISIS from seizing wells, including even small or non-productive wells, is very important for “winning this battle.”

Abdul-Mahdi pointed out that he has information indicating that ISIS was selling 36,000 litres of crude oil from Alas’s fields for $10,000 with estimated retail price of $30 or less per barrel.

The Iraqi minister said that “this rate tempts many warlords, especially if ISIS could agree with organisations or irresponsible states, taking advantage of the chaos prevailing in the region in general. Moreover, information indicates that ISIS and war-dealers sell crude oil for much lower prices “.

The Security Council adopted last February a resolution targeting the sources of funding for ISIS and Al-Nusra Front.

The resolution threatened of imposing sanctions against those who buy oil from ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front. It urged all states not to pay ransoms. It also prohibits trafficking the Syrian antiquities and reaffirmed the ban on selling Iraqi antiquities, which had been imposed almost ten years ago.

Last September, a report issued by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace estimated that the ISIS’ s total revenues is about $1.5 billion a year, thus making the ISIS the wealthiest organisation in the world.