IS oil revenue hit by strikes, low price

Airstrikes led by a coalition of Western governments have caused damage to oil targets run by Islamic State militant around Raqqa and Abu Kamal on Thursday, cutting the terrorist group’s exports from 110,000 to 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

The damage will significantly reduce the group’s oil revenues, which Reuters estimated to be between $2 million-4 million a day in October 2014. The group controls more than 60 percent of Syria’s oil production according to energy analyst Amrita Sen of consultancy firm Energy Aspects.

Some reports suggest that oil produced is smuggled and sold back to the Syrian government and Turkey, although the much-needed revenues from are shrinking in the face of depressed oil prices, as well as recent airstrikes.

The US announced earlier this week that it destroyed more than 100 fuel trucks in Abu Kamal, Syria, near the border with Iraq.

While fuel trucks were previously off-limits due to the US military’s rules of engagement, the Paris attacks on November 30 have led to an intensification of strikes, as well as the sharing of intelligence between coalition governments.

The Russian military also released footage of its warplanes hitting a militant-controlled oil refinery and reportedly destroyed more than 500 oil trucks in more than 200 strikes in Syria on Thursday.