Islamic State earns $800 million a year from oil, IHS says

The Islamic State is earning about $2 million a day, or $800 million a year, selling oil on the black market, IHS Inc estimated. The terrorist group is producing 50,000 to 60,000 barrels a day, according to an e-mailed release on Monday from the Englewood, Colorado-based information company. It controls as much as 350,000 barrels a day of capacity in Iraq and Syria.

Extremist groups typically reply on foreign donations that can be squeezed by sanctions, diplomacy and law enforcement. By tapping the region's oil wealth, Islamic State, the group that beheaded American journalist James Foley, resembles the Taliban with oil wells.