Update: Coalition strikes against ISIS’ oil trade have halved the group’s oil revenue from an estimated $30 million a month to $15 million a month—not the $300 million and $150 million amounts originally reported by the coalition—Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Christopher Garver clarified on July 6 during a press briefing.
The US-led coalition targeting ISIS has hit the group’s oil infrastructure with about 300 airstrikes since September 2014, cutting its profit from the illicit oil trade in half. However, a coalition spokesman said the group is still bringing in about $150 million a month from oil. “That’s a lot of money. You can fund a lot of things across the globe,” coalition spokesman Army Col. Christopher Garver said during a Wednesday briefing. Last week, the coalition conducted eight strikes as part of the anti-oil effort, called Tidal Wave II. This included hitting the ISIS “Ministry of Oil” headquarters in the Iraqi city of Mosul. “That strikes the management piece of them trying to run, really, a business,” Garver said. “They’re trying to run a business or a government of illicit oil and natural gas operations. So the strike just happened. We’re going to watch for reflections to see kind of what the impact of that is.” (See also: Coalition Targeting ISIS’s Oil.)