Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

A truly fascinating book that takes place during the last three years of the Vietnam War. Turning page by page produces striking mind imagery of a war whose life blood involved commercial interests surviving under very extraordinary circumstances. A superb book and as exciting as any mystery-suspense novel. However for me it also answered many of the unasked questions of that time.
When Louis Wesseling was appointed to Vietnam I was actually serving on one of Shell's tankers employed on the Singapore to Nha Be run carrying JP4 (Avgas) aircraft fuel. Several UK & Dutch vessels unmentioned in the book also took part on these runs. Rumours of fuel getting through to the communists were rife at the time and we mistakenly thought this would afford a modicom of protection, they are unlikely to attact their own supplies?
Of course we appreciated the double wages, the experience and I'm sure the excitement. But in hindsight I shudder to think what if it had all gone badly wrong. An attacked tanker with multiple wounded, where would they be tended? What if we broke down in the Saigon river, where would our assistance come from? Were we really carrying some fuel for the communists?
Thank you Louis for writing of your experiences in Vietnam, a life largely unknown to us tanker people until now, even though we were there at the time.
I didn't know until now that some of the ships were getting pre-release films! This in itself would have started another war!