Petroleum Operations in the Gulf War an Operation Desert Storm Personal Experience Monograph

Abstract

The supply of petroleum fuels to forces engaged in combat is one of the most critical logistics functions carried out in a Theater of War. During the Gulf War, U.S. forces consumed more than two billion (2,000,000,000) gallons of fuel within the Theater of War. The provisioning of this fuel and the inland distribution to more than 43 operating locations, throughout seven nations in the Middle East were monumental undertakings. Using more than 2,000 commercial tank trucks, provided through Host Nation Support (HNS), along with 13 U.S. military tank truck companies, the petroleum organizations of the U.S. Army provided up to 18 million gallons of fuel each day to the U.S. forces. The Theater managers had at their disposal the sum of the outputs from three of the world's largest petroleum refineries, and constructed tactical or managed existing commercial pipelines with a combined length of more than 300 kilometers. This personal experience monograph attempts to put the most significant efforts and accomplishments of the petroleum organizations of the U. S. military into perspective and draw conclusions as to their successes and failures. After the chronology of the petroleum operations in the Gulf War, a series of lessons learned and recommended solutions are presented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 15, 1993
Accession Number
ADA263676

Entities

People

  • Joseph T. Thomas

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Combat Forces
  • Combat Operations
  • Department Of Defense
  • Diesel Fuels
  • Doctrine
  • Lessons Learned
  • Logistics
  • Middle East
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Saudi Arabia
  • United States
  • United States Central Command
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Military and Counterinsurgency Studies.
  • Petroleum Engineering