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An oil war is a conflict about petroleum resources, or their transportation, consumption, or regulation. The term may also refer generally to any conflict in a region that contains oil reserves or is geographically positioned in a location where an entity has or may wish to develop production or transportation infrastructure for petroleum products. It is also used to refer to any of a number of specific oil wars.

There are multiple hypothesized pathways for oil to contribute to war, including:[1]

  • Territory with oil raises the payoffs to territorial conquest (e.g. Chaco War).
  • Territorial conquest creates a risk of market domination (e.g. the Iraqi conquest of Kuwait led to the Gulf War).
  • Foreign workers in petrostates may motivate grievances (e.g. Al-Qaeda terrorism).
  • Oil wealth makes leaders less accountable to the public, lowering the risks of their starting wars.
  • Oil wealth can help finance nonstate actors to undertake rebellions and conduct civil wars.
  • States’ efforts to secure transit routes for oil can create conflict.

Scholars have debated the extent to which oil contributes to war.[1][2][3][4] Professor Emily Meierding has characterized oil wars as largely a myth.[2] She argues that proponents of the concept of oil wars underestimate the ability to seize and exploit foreign oil fields, and thus exaggerate the value of oil wars. She has examined four cases commonly described as oil wars (Japan‘s attack on the Dutch East Indies in World War II, Iraq‘s invasion of Kuwait, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay), finding that control of additional oil-resources was not the main cause of aggression in the conflicts.[5]

A 2024 study found that the presence of oil in contested territory can make states less likely to seek to acquire the territory,[3] while a 2026 study found that when a newly-discovered fuel-resource is claimable by multiple states, the likelihood of war increases.[4]

On a civil-war level, the oil-rich region of Biafra attempted secession from Nigeria (1967 to 1970). ‘Booty futures’ contracts have enabled rebels to finance insurgencies.

History

In the course of the 20th century, increased mechanisation saw the widespread introduction of oil power for military use. In the early years of the century the adoption of diesel fuel encouraged the widespread deployment of military submarines.[6] Military aircraft saw service in war from the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912.[7] The young Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911 to 1915, oversaw the British Royal Navy‘s transition from coal to oil as its primary fuel from 1912, and other navies followed suit.[8] Petrol-powered transport legendarily showed its military usefulness in the Miracle of the Marne in 1914.[9] The development of modern tank warfare in the First World War of 1914-1918 presaged further significant growth in the military use of petroleum products — and increasing dependence on those products. By the second decade of the 20th century oil resources had become important in warfare, and oil-rich regions such as south-west Asia became strategically significant. Truck transport supplemented marches on foot, armoured vehicles replaced cavalry, and aerial bombers took over some of the work of artillery — each of these innovations called for liquid fuel. In the Second World War of 1939 to 1945, the deployment of Blitzkrieg tactics using oil-dependent tanks and oil-dependent aircraft cemented the significance of obtaining and controlling oil resources to support warfare. The advent of nuclear-powered ships has done little to dent the pre-eminence of oil-supply for many modern military operations.

List of wars described as oil wars

See also

References

  1. ^ a b “Fueling the Fire: Pathways from Oil to War”. International Security. 38 (2): 147–180. 2013. doi:10.1162/ISEC_a_00135. ISSN 0162-2889.
  2. ^ a b Meierding, Emily (2020-05-15). The Oil Wars Myth: Petroleum and the Causes of International Conflict. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-4895-0.
  3. ^ a b Lee, Soyoung (2024). “Resources and Territorial Claims: Domestic Opposition to Resource-Rich Territory”. International Organization. doi:10.1017/S0020818324000134. ISSN 0020-8183.
  4. ^ a b Kikuta, Kyosuke (2026). “Claimability in International Relations: Oil Discoveries, Territorial Claims, and Interstate Conflicts”. American Political Science Review. doi:10.1017/S0003055425101366. ISSN 0003-0554.
  5. ^ Meierding, Emily (2016-04-02). “Dismantling the Oil Wars Myth”. Security Studies. 25 (2): 258–288. doi:10.1080/09636412.2016.1171968. ISSN 0963-6412. S2CID 147849960.
  6. ^ For example: Rindskopf, Mike H. (1994). Steel Boats Iron Men. Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Publishing Company. p. 10. ISBN 9781563110818. Retrieved 15 June 2026. By 1904, diesel propulsion was installed, far safer and more versatile than the steam and gasoline internal combustion engines it replaced.
  7. ^ Maksel, Rebecca (21 October 2011). “The World’s First Warplane”. Air & Space Magazine. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 15 June 2026. […] on October 23, 1911, Captain Carlo Piazza climbed onto his spindly Blériot XI and made military history by spying on the enemy below.
  8. ^ Gretton, Peter (1969) [1968]. “Technical improvements and naval aviation”. Winston Churchill and the Royal Navy (reprint ed.). New York: Coward McCann. p. 111, 113. Retrieved 15 June 2026. To change the foundation of the Navy from British coal to foreign oil was a formidable decision. […] Encouraged by Fisher, the First Lord was pressing his colleagues for twenty-five knots, four knots faster than any other battleship. Thus was consolidated the vast naval revolution of the change from coal to oil which the First Lord quickly pushed through. By appointing Fisher as the Chairman of the Royal Commission on Oil Supplies he made certain that the urgency of the problem was understood.
  9. ^ For example: “Address of Major Eckenfelder”. The Journal of the Society of Automotive Engineers. 2 (2): 124. February 1918. Retrieved 15 June 2026. […] gas engines helped to win the battle of the Marne, when all the taxis of the French capital loaded with soldiers rushed to the help of their comrades, and won the victory. That was the first use of the engine in this capacity.
  10. ^ Timothy C. Winegard (2016). The First World Oil War. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
  11. ^ “Oil led to Pearl Harbor”. Salon. 5 December 2013.
  12. ^ Brogan, Patrick (1998). World Conflicts: A Comprehensive Guide to World Strife Since 1945. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780810835511.
  13. ^ “Iraq Sanctions: Humanitarian Implications and Options for the Future”. Global Policy Forum. August 6, 2002. The United States and the United Kingdom, who use their veto power to prolong the sanctions, bear special responsibility for the UN action. No-fly zones, periodic military attacks, and threats of regime-change block peaceful outcomes, as do vilification of Saddam Hussein, pro-sanctions propaganda, and other politicization of the crisis. Though real concerns about Iraq’s security threat undoubtedly are legitimate, commercial interests, especially control over Iraq’s oil resources, appear to be a driving force behind much of the policy making.
  14. ^ Juhasz, Antonia (15 April 2013). “Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil”. CNN.