ISIS controls oil fields and crude oil infrastructure in Syria and Iraq which provides them a source of funding through smuggling crude oil. Shipping data shows spikes in freight rates along a trade route from Syria to Turkey corresponding to events that boosted ISIS's control over oil assets, suggesting they exploited these events to boost smuggled oil exports. However, the data is inconclusive and does not prove direct ISIS involvement in smuggling, only that cheap smuggled crude could have increased demand during their rise to power. While an illicit oil supply chain exists, the research neither confirms nor denies government involvement in smuggling.