Refining Islamic State oil

1. Refining Islamic State oil

2. Men work at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. The refinery site, owned by Yousef Ayoub, 34, has been active for 4 months. Ayoub says that he gets the crude oil from Islamic State-controlled areas in Deir al-Zor province and Iraq. The price for a barrel of crude oil varies and is controlled by the Islamic State, but it is currently at $44 dollars per barrel, he said. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

3. A youth works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. Islamic State is looking at potentially vulnerable oil assets in Libya and elsewhere outside its Syria stronghold, where the militant group controls about roughly 80 percent of the oil and gas fields, a senior U.S. official said. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

4. A worker shows off the final fuel product at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. The United States has estimated Islamic State was selling as much as $40 million a month of oil, which was then spirited on trucks across the battle lines of the Syrian civil war and sometimes farther. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

5. Yousef Ayoub (L), 34, works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. The United States recently targeted fuel trucks, part of a broadening of its strikes on Islamic State's oil wealth that the U.S. official said had showed anecdotal signs of raising the costs of Islamic State's oil operations. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

6. The final fuel product is pictured at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. Islamic State militants have made more than $500 million trading oil with significant volumes sold to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and some finding its way to Turkey, a senior U.S. Treasury official said last week. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

7. Men work at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. After Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had intelligence that large amounts of oil and petroleum products were moving across the border from Islamic State territories to Turkey. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

8. Yousef Ayoub, 34, uncovers a container for the final fuel product at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. The son of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has denied Russian allegations that he and his family were profiting from the illegal smuggling of oil from Islamic State-held territory. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

9. A youth works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

10. Yousef Ayoub, 34, works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

11. A worker inspects the final fuel product at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

12. The final fuel product is pictured at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

13. Yousef Ayoub, 34, works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

14. Yousef Ayoub (L), 34, works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Marchmarin town, southern countryside of Idlib, Syria December 16, 2015. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi