Subsidies may curb Islamic State oil financing

Western supporters fighting the group calling itself the Islamic State should consider subsidizing regional fuels to curb terror financing, a U.S. scholar said.

The Islamic State is said to generate anywhere between several hundred thousand dollars to as much as $2 billion in illicit oil trade. Liz Rosenburg, director of the energy and security program at the Center for a New American Security, told delegates at the Washington Institute of Near East Policy that, while it was difficult to pinpoint exact financing, the group's ability to generate funding through oil is diminished.

"It is unlikely to be anywhere near the top of that spectrum now, given coalition efforts to degrade ISIL financing last year and the drop in the price of oil, but it is without a doubt extraordinarily substantial for a terrorist organization," she admitted.

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