Personal commentary

Journal article

In the fall of 2002, I received an unexpected call from the US Department of Defense asking for my help in its efforts to develop contingency plans for various sectors of Iraq’s economy in the event that military action did occur. The Iraqi oil industry is, by far, the most important economic sector and would have to be back in operation quickly if the country was to recover from the effects of the fighting and move on to a more hopeful future. The planning effort was carried out by contractors under existing DOD contracts. The effort was intense. A number of scenarios were evaluated ranging from massive destruction of facilities and an uncooperative workforce, to more benign ones where physical damage was light and good relations with the oil workers could be maintained. For each of these potential outcomes, estimates were made of human, material, and financial resources that would be required. The organisational structure of the recovery effort was laid out and the process of identifying the people to do the jobs was begun.

Authors: Carroll, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
• Journal: Oxford Energy Forum
• Volume: November 2004
• Issue: 59
• Pages: 18-19
• Publication date: 2004-11-01
• Edition: Publisher's version
• ISSN: 0959-7727
• Language: English
• Keywords: OIES