Fuelling the War: Revealing an Oil Company's Role in Vietnam [Hardcover]

Louis Wesseling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2000 | ISBN-10: 1860644570 | ISBN-13: 978-1860644573 | Edition: 1St Edition

This is the story of the role of oil in the Vietnam war. Revealed here for the first time is the way American oil suppliers also ended up fuelling the communist armies--under the blind eye of Shell--with shipments flowing through indirect channels. The action takes place mostly in Saigon among ambassadors, generals, politicians, bankers, businessmen, CIA agents, spies, and hustlers, and for the first time unveils the behind-the-scenes manipulation and skulduggery which formed the unknown part of the Vietnam War.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a Dutch business executive who ran Shell Oil's operations in Vietnam from 1972 to 1975, Wesseling offers a perspective that has so far been missing in the vast Vietnam War literature: that of a well-compensated, well-connected corporate higher-up living and working in Saigon. Much of the book is a re-creation of Wesseling's life and times among the business, military and political elite in Vietnam during the war's last three years. His well-drawn portraits of some of the characters he worked and rubbed shoulders with are among the book's high points. Less successful are Wesseling's sketchy history of Vietnam and anti-Communist critiques of the way the French and Americans fought their wars in Indochina from 1945 to 1975. The book's most notable absence, however, is the lack of a full account of how Shell and other oil companies actually fueled the American war machine in Vietnam. Given the well-known rampant corruption in South Vietnam during the American war, the 7% of Shell Oil that Wesseling estimates wound up in the enemy's hands seems low. (July)

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Louis Wesseling has writtena fascinating memoir about his three years as Shell Oil Company's top executive in Vietnam...Wesseling gives us great detail on just how important oil was in Vietnam." -- Pacific Affairs

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris; 1St Edition edition (May 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860644570
• ISBN-13: 978-1860644573
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,995,661 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Book (Notwithstanding Its Unassuming Title), October 24, 2000

By 

Peter J. O'Donnell "jamieod" (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fuelling the War: Revealing an Oil Company's Role in Vietnam (Hardcover)

This is a book which appeals on many different levels -- an interesting military and social history of South Vietnam following the pullout of US forces up to its final defeat, a compelling study of the oil business (which particularly resonates today with oil prices rising) and an insightful study of business management in crisis situations. The problem with the book is its title; it sure doesn't shout "read me!".

I was most struck by the character of the author. Louis Wesseling has a gift for honest self-reflection and impartial observation which, when combined with hindsight, make him a compelling writer. Fortunately for his readers he was in a unique position to deploy these considerable attributes. Wesseling ran Shell Oil's operations in Saigon and if ever an economy and a war effort was totally dependent on oil it was South Vietnam's. His description of how Shell operated in these circumstances describes in very real terms how fundamentally economic and military policy are intertwined. His position as chief executive of a company so central to the economic and military well-being of the South also gave him access to everyone who was anyone, and his pithy, sympathetic summations of the major characters of that period are excellent. These are particularly poignant with respect to Graham Martin, the last US Ambassador to South Vietnam.

It is the author's character strengths which make this book a far richer reading experience than I had expected (my initial expectations having been set by that woeful title). Whereas I had bought this out of interest in Vietnam and the Vietnam War, I discovered a book with far broader appeal. Wesseling has an uncanny ability to sum up the essence of a situation, scene or even a country in just a few short lines, and this permits him to cover a wide variety of topics with substance -- from running a business in a war zone to how the US oil companies so quickly forsook US interests and allies in order to keep favor with OPEC during the 1973 oil embargo.

My strong advice to the book's publisher is to change the title and promote it a bit; it is deserving of a much broader readership!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big business at war, June 5, 2000

By 

J. C. MCCREADY "colin mccready" (UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fuelling the War: Revealing an Oil Company's Role in Vietnam (Hardcover)

BOOK DEALS IN EXTRAORDINARY FRANK WAY WITH THE OVERRIDING INFLUENCE OF BUSINESS- IN THIS CASE OIL- ON THE OUTCOME OF WAR. IT TELLS THE INTIMATE STORY OF THE LAST YEARS OF THE VIETNAM WAR. BUT ITS CONCLUSIONS CAN EQUALLY APPLY TO OTHER ARMED CONFLICTS OF OUR TIME, FROM THE GULF WAR TO KOSOVO.A VERY PERSONAL, RIVETING AND NOT AT ALL SELF-SERVING EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT BY AN EX-USAF OFFICER AND EX SHELL PRESIDENT IN VIETNAM MOVING IN THE HIGHEST GOVERNMENT CIRCLES IN SAIGON BEFORE ITS FALL. IT EXPLAINS THE INEVITABLE CORRUPTION AND THE MOTIVES OF MANY FASCINATING CHARACTERS FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL IN SAIGON AT THE TIME.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting anecdotes, May 19, 2004

By 

Stephen Sossaman (San Francisco CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fuelling the War: Revealing an Oil Company's Role in Vietnam (Hardcover)

This is not a military and social history of the war or of the country, but an interesting memoir with the hits and misses of good after-dinner conversation. The book's strengths are in its anecdotes, some of which the author was involved in, and some which he reports having heard. Perhaps the most interesting of the latter is one improbable tale, implicitly attributed to an ARVN soldier, of the NVA hiring ARVN artillery to shell a Khmer Rouge position. The book has several other anecdotes like this involving corruption, black market deals between enemies, go-along-get-along methods, and compromise. The author confesses to rationalizing belief that a general benefit accrued to Southeast Asia in Shell's wittingly and unwittingly fuelling of both sides. Wessling seems to be a charming, intelligent, and practical man. If we cannot enjoy his stories over dinner and drinks, we at least have this book.