Iraqi oil's 15 bloody years
Gary Vogler's memoir of post-invasion Iraq gives context to the many challenges the country still faces
Fifteen years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, the notion that it was all an effort to grab oil is firmly entrenched in the popular imagination. Gary Vogler has written a book that sheds some light on the question. He was an oil advisor to the occupying government in 2003, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), and a key player in the efforts to revive Iraq's oil sector after the reins were handed back to Iraqis. By his own counting, he spent 75 months in the country after 2003. Iraq and the Politics of Oil is a candid memoir of years spent devising policy in the Green Zone, fighting political battles with the Pentagon, making friends with Iraqi oilmen and trying to rebuild an oil sect
Also in this section
10 March 2026
From Venezuela to Hormuz, the US—backed by the most powerful military force ever assembled—is redrawing not only oil and gas flows but also the global balance of energy power
10 March 2026
By shutting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has cut exports of distillate-rich Middle Eastern crude, jet fuel and diesel, and is holding the energy market hostage
10 March 2026
Eni’s director for global gas and LNG portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, discusses how demand will respond to rising LNG supply, and how the company is expanding its own gas and LNG operations through disciplined, capital-efficient investments
9 March 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis sees increases in output from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan among others before region’s murky descent
