IS Militants Extracting Oil From Kirkuk Fields, Iraq: Finance Ministry
18:16 09/11/2014
MANAMA, November 9 (RIA Novosti) - The Islamic State (IS) militants have advanced further into the oil-bearing Kirkuk province in Iraq and seized several oilfields, the head of the Debt management office of the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, Mowafaq Taha Al-Hoori told RIA Novosti Sunday.
'They have seized an oil field which was among the first ones to open in Iraq,' al-Hoori said on the sidelines of an international expert consultation in Manama, Bahrain, called to discuss the possible steps to cut off the terrorist groups' cash flow.
Al-Hoori added that there was information that the IS militants were selling Iraqi oil as cheap as $20 dollars per barrel.
'Iraqi Foreign Affairs and Oil Ministries are working actively to identify those buying oil from the [IS terrorist] group and to inform the international community about it for undertaking the relevant measures,' al-Hoori said.
The Islamic State insurgent group has proclaimed a caliphate over the vast areas it seized across Iraq and Syria. The United States and a number of its allies are currently carrying out airstrikes against IS targets in both countries. According to US Treasury data, oil production brings the group about $1 million a day. German intelligence, however, stated earlier this week that the terrorist group's oil production has shrunk six times over the last three months to some 28,000 barrels per day in October.
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