The Islamic State is going low tech for oil refining in reaction to a constant bombardment of airstrikes on their refineries, according to a report.
Stratfor, a private Texas-based intelligence company, took satellite images that show a recent increase in micro-refineries. These refineries, sometimes called “teapots,” are makeshift, portable, small furnaces that distill raw petroleum into fuel by using a metal furnace to heat oil stored in a dugout ditch.
Thousands of teapots are in use around Islamic State strongholds in Syria, but have only recently popped up around the heavily damaged Iraqi oil fields, according to Stratfor’s senior analyst Omar Lamrani.
“It’s not the ideal way to do it, so [the Islamic State’s] revenue is going down. But it still works,” he said. The switch to low-tech micro-refineries suggests resilience by the Islamic State.
The teapots are “very inefficient, dirty and create lots of waste,” said Paul Bommer, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Although, “it is a way to make small amounts of product at isolated locations, which I suppose could make the sites harder to find.”
The Islamic State’s oil fields have become part of the U.S. campaign for president. Donald Trump has said he would “bomb the hell out of the oil fields” last November in an attempt to diminish the Islamic State’s revenue. However, this new report suggests it will only lessen revenue from $50 million to $20 million per month.
