Iraq and the politics of oil : an insider's perspective / Gary Vogler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vogler, Gary, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.

Coalition Provisional Authority.

Petroleum industry and trade--Political aspects--Iraq.

Petroleum industry and trade.

Postwar reconstruction--Iraq.

Postwar reconstruction.

United States--Foreign economic relations--Iraq.

United States.

Iraq--Foreign economic relations--United States.

Iraq.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (some color)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lawrence, Kansas : University Press of Kansas, 2017.

Summary:

In this book, Gary Vogler tells the story of US involvement in the Iraq oil sector from 2002-2011. Vogler, a 21-year Mobil Oil and ExxonMobil employee, was an insider who was involved in the prewar planning stages and spent over six years in Iraq as a member of the Energy Infrastructure Planning Group (EIPG) and later as a senior oil advisor in the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs (OHRA). Vogler's book was originally going to be a tribute to the great work he saw from US forces. But in the course of his research, and in looking back on his sometimes tense interactions with Department of Defense and White House staff, Vogler came to understand the darker political side of the role of oil in the decision to go to war with Iraq. It was not, as many thought, merely to secure a steady, indefinite supply of Iraqi oil for the US market, or to secure contracts for US oil companies. The purpose was in fact grander--to rebalance the political map of the Middle East by providing a steady supply of oil to Israel through the Kirkuk-Haifa pipeline, and deny oil to Syria, a purpose which was designed to enrich and empower various international operators in the region who operated below the radar on the periphery of the war effort.

Contents:

American oil minister

Contingency planning for the oil sector

ORHA start-up : Lieutenant General Jay Garner is the first civilian leader

Iraqi oil sector : history, resources, and organization

Adjusting the oil plan

Penalizing Syria : why so important

Finding gold in Baghdad : oil ministry leadership

The calm before the storm : June 2003

The long hot summer of 2003

The bizarre top priority

Task force shield : securing the oil sector

Changing of the guard : oil ministry and CPA oil change

CPA closes out : June 2004

A break between tours : 2004 to 2006

Energy fusion cell : fixing the oil sector

The Bayji refinery and the surge

The southern export project

The bid rounds : oil field auctions

Leaving Iraq : september 2011

What haunts me

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780700625079

0700625070

OCLC:

1012345956