And elsewhere German columns raced
By light of burning Russian farms
Across the steppes of the Ukraine;
These deep incursions, Blitzkrieg paced,
Could win the war for German arms.
The Allies must a respite gain!
Thus was conceived an Air force blow
To shift the focus of the foe –
A strike at underbelly soft,
The oil supplies near Bucharest
On which depend each turning tread
Of tank, each truck, each plane aloft.
Then would those armies grind to rest,
With Blitzkrieg, for all purpose, dead!
—Ray Ward[1]
The clouds above were dark and hinted at the coming storm. As the wind blew ominously, a man perched on the foot of one of the many derricks peered into the night sky. He saw nothing. Turning his head to scan the horizon he heard a faint rumbling. The roar of the metal grasshoppers could be made out coming from where the sun was beginning to rise. With the sun’s rays came an onslaught of loud alarms from the oil fields. An attack was imminent. Ilie,[2] the Romanian oil guard, knew the bombings would soon commence.[3]
The fields of Ploiești where Ilie was posted would become the site of multiple air bombings by the Americans and Soviets. Along with the rest of the Romanian oil industry, Ploiești’s fields fueled the Nazi regime during World War II until their destruction. The history of the Romanian oil industry and its relation to World War II is an interesting topic that sheds light on the role resources can play in power structures and war. Romania, for many years, was one of the largest albeit most seldom recognized suppliers of oil to Europe.[4]
This analysis examines the history and development of the Romanian oil industry and how it affected the outcome of World War II, the tactics of Germany and the Soviet Union in dealing with Romania’s oil, and the Balkan political scene. It goes on to use a variety of lenses to evaluate alternatives that modern-day Romania can adopt to strengthen its extractive industries.
Current academic literature says little about how Romania used its dependence on the Axis powers to accomplish its foreign policy goals while dealing with its status as a “puppet state.” Romania, under a 90-year prewar contract with Germany, went on to use its petroleum resources as leverage against Nazi Germany. The Romanian administration, though nominally allied with the Nazis, attempted to gain economic and political sovereignty via accomplished its ownership of the oil industries; yet with the damage to its fields and refineries at Ploiești, Romania effectively lost its leverage against Germany and faced greater difficulties in the negotiation of favorable postwar deals.[5]
The History of Romanian Oil
Bucharest, the capital of Romania, was known worldwide as the “first city illuminated with kerosene” in the 19th century.[6] On April 1, 1857, one thousand oil street lamps became active across the city in a huge display of its modernity, illuminating the cobblestone streets of what many called “the Paris of the Balkans”.[7][8] Romania’s display of its innovations did not end with Bucharest’s illumination, instead continuing with the invention of the blowout protector[9] and a method of refining oil using sulfur dioxide.[10][11] Romania’s connection to the oil industry began early and would continue to be nurtured throughout the nation’s history.
Medieval and Pre-Industrial History
Archaeological explorations have uncovered Roman mugs with pieces of pitch from the 3rd century as well as bitumen[12] dating to the 5th and 6th centuries.[13] Records of Romanian oil date back as far as October 4, 1440, where a letter written by the sons of King Alexander the Good described a town “opposite from the black oil.”[14] A monk by the name of Bandini was particularly interested in the Romanian oil reserves, writing about them in 1646.[15] The first mentions of the extraction of black oil itself were made on November 22, 1517, in Wallachia.[16]
Early extraction of oil in Romania was done for “the lubrication of cart axels, the lighting of boyar[17] courts or the treatment of certain diseases in people or animals.”[18] To extract the oil from the ground, the inhabitants of Romania would use oil mines, digs (the classic “hole-in-the-ground” approach), and derricks, which became particularly popular in the mid-1800s.[19] Gabriela Tanasescu, a recent director of the National Oil Museum in Ploiesti, explained, “crude oil exploitation simply meant collection from the shallow pits and ditches in the outcrops of the Sub-Carpathian area.”[20]
In 1857, Romania moved on to become a global player in the oil business. It became the first country to officially record its petroleum production (275 tonnes for the year) and opened the first refinery using techniques similar to those of alcohol distillation.[21] Oil pumps were designed and built in Romania as well, by N. Choss in 1840 and M. Heimsohn in 1844,[22] improving access to deeper underground reserves.[23] In 1861,[24] Romania had built its first well, using rods and the auger type bit.[25] Austro-Hungarian banks began investing in Romania’s oil industry in the 1890s and the industry thus began adopting more of the technological innovations as more capital became available.[26] The modern oil industry in Romania had been born.
20th Century
In 1907, the Romanian-American Company became the first to use a rotary bit in oil well drilling.[27] Coupled with foreign investment in the oil industry from Standard Oil, the Deutsche Bank, and Royal Dutch, Romania’s output increased sevenfold from 1900 to 1910, turning Romania into a global oil producer.[28][29][30]
World War I, the beginning of modern mechanized war, caused global oil demand to skyrocket. In August 1916, Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary while fearing a Russian attack (bringing it into war with Germany as well).[31] Up to that point, Germany had been reliant on Romanian oil for its war efforts—in a postwar account, General Erich Ludendorff admitted that Germany “should not have been able to exist, much less to carry on the war, without Rumania’s corn and oil.”[32] Seeking to reduce its dependence, Germany mounted an unsuccessful attack on Romania a month later.[33] Romania, however, ultimately was not able to maintain total control over its resources. Nicolae Titulescu, Romanian diplomat and foreign minister, reflected on the situation:
On May 7, 1918, the negotiations between Romania and the Central Powers end in the signature of a “treaty” of peace (“Bucharest Peace”)… to accept the German monopoly over commerce with Romanian cereals, over timber exploitation and processing; German control on the Danube navigation; Romanian shipyards passed into the ownership of the German State; total German monopoly over the exploitation of oil for 90 years, etc.[34]
Titulescu stated afterwards that “friendship with Germany [was] imperative for us.”[35] For Romania, the key result of the Bucharest Peace was that its relationship with Germany gained fundamental importance.
By 1928, the United States, Venezuela, Romania, and the Soviet Union’s oil outputs led to a worldwide fall in oil prices and a decrease in profit margins for oil companies.[36] Before the beginning of World War II, Russia’s crude oil production began to fall significantly from highs in the 1930s.[37] Though Russia was in need of foreign oil to accommodate for its drop in production, Romania in 1937 was the 7th largest producer in the world after Russia, the United States, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, and the Dutch Indies (Indonesia).[38]
World War II significantly recalibrated existing interstate power relationships. On March 7, 1936, Germany seized the Rhine, to which Romania responded by increasing the price of oil shipments—a strategic move given that 37% of Germany’s oil came from Romania.[39] The Romanian oil industry carried such importance to Germany that part of the motivation behind Hitler’s Russian campaign was that it would ensure the safety of oil supplies in Ploiești.[40] Romania began to use the fields as political leverage against Germany, attempting to gain more independence by threatening Germany. Nevertheless, Nazi control over Romania tightened over the course of the war, prompting American and Russian bombardments as the war progressed.
Modern
The post-World War history of the Romanian oil industry is punctuated with further technological innovations and accomplishments. As Romania’s oil industry recovered after the war, it reached peak oil production in 1976. In 1951, the first water injection operation on the industrial scale occurred at Sarmatian Boldesti oil field, giving oil companies even greater access to oil resources.[41]
Nicolae Ceausescu, the former dictator of Romania, invested billions of dollars in the 1970s in the construction of refineries capable of processing greater volumes of crude oil.[42] The ensuing decreases in domestic oil production meant that the refineries capable of processing 34 million tons of crude per year now only processed 7 million.[43] The old refineries built under Ceausescu now need renovation and a new source of oil.[44] Exploration has thus begun throughout Romania: attempts to reach oil in more remote locations have led to wells such as the 1984 Baicoi well, which reached depths of 7025 meters.[45]
Romanian Oil and World War II
World War II revealed the true importance of oil in modern warfare. Fighting ships, seagoing freighters, tanks, airplanes, motorized troop transport, and submarines all depended on oil; without oil, there would be no mechanization.[46] Nazi offensive campaigns required especially large amounts of oil, making the resource integral to “blitzkrieg” tactics in the first half of the war.
Romanians themselves became accustomed to life with oil—they, too, wished to have oil for their own purposes. Yet the Nazis all but begged for oil. In October 1942, General Wilhelm Keitel wrote to Premier Ion Antonescu:
“… I beg Your Excellency to increase to the maximum degree these deliveries of fuel to Italy which are exclusively reserved for supplying the fleet called upon to maintain important positions in the Mediterranean for the purpose of joint warfare.”[47]
Antonescu replied and said that Romania could spare no more oil. Months later, Hitler “reproachfully” replied that North Africa was lost “due to lack of oil supplies.”[48] In the end, the oil fields’ slowing in production due to the war’s extension to Romania played a pivotal role in the overall German defeat.
Ploiești Oil Field Bombings
The city of Ploiești was originally founded in 1500 as a small market town, but nearby oil fields later became the home to sprawling oil derricks and refineries.[49] Today, the city shows the remnants of the war, wrecks of airplanes dotting its vicinity.[50]
Ploiești was home to the majority of the oil fields in Romania during World War II, and it hence became a major target for Allied bombings.[51] The city’s fields themselves were Europe’s largest individual source of petroleum outside the Soviet Union.[52] More importantly, 58 percent of Germany’s total oil imports in 1940 came from the fields at Ploiești.[53] Hitler saw the proximity of the Soviets as a “permanent threat” to the Ploiești oil fields of Romania.[54] Germany valued the fields immensely, sending its own forces to protect the fields.[55] “The life of the Axis depends on those oilfields,” Hitler told Mussolini.[56]
As a result, Hitler sent 50,000 Luftwaffe personnel and three squadrons of Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters to intercept bombers and minimize damage.[57] The Allied forces were not deterred: during Operation Tidal Wave, 162 American B-24 bombers on low-altitude sorties targeted the fields.[58] Oil historians Goralski and Freeburg also point out that “few people are aware of Russian strategic bombing of the Ploiești area in June 1941.”[59] The Russians, hence, also wished to wipe out the oil fields. Under the combined force of American and Soviet bombings, the fields’ production declined severely, as can be seen by the following graph.
The Fall of the Romanian Oil Industry
Figure 1. Romanian Oil Production and Peak (Petrom)
Created by Petrom,[60] Romania’s national petroleum company, the preceding graph breaks down Romanian oil production over time. The results of World War II are evident as the oil industry receded, badly damaged by Allied bombings. Also visible is the ensuing Communist push to achieve a great deal of production in the years following the war via investment in new refineries. Current explorations suggest the potential for accessing reserves that may help Romania increase production to levels closer to those of 1976.
Understanding the Conflict
To understand how the Romanian oil industry affected the outcome and shape of World War II, understanding the drivers of the conflict is critical.[61] One such driver is oil itself. The resource curse in which plentiful natural resources have a paradoxically negative impact in a society seems to apply to much of Romania’s history. Group dynamics begin to feed into the conflict:[62] in Romania, the war led to group polarization, with those advocating for selling oil to Nazi Germany experiencing backlash from an opposition strongly in favor of independence from both Germany and the USSR.
Romania’s oil industry and its relationship to World War II is a narrative rich with characters. The actors present played a role in the decision-making process on various levels and influenced how Romania ultimately came out of the war. On the international level, Nazi Germany, Romania, the Soviet Union, the Allies, and multinational oil companies (oil MNCs)[63] all fought for influence or to influence.[64] On the Romanian national level, oil industry workers, the Romanian army, and the governance of Ploiești all played various roles in the conflict, with the Romanian army particularly involved as a result of their use as oil industry guards. At the local level, constituent groups include the village people in direct vicinity of oil wells or other extractive outposts, oil equipment merchants, and the community of petroleum engineers and mechanics in Romania.
At each level of analysis, different groups present often-divergent interests in the conflict and on Romania’s relationship with oil. On one hand, Romania valued its independence from European powers more than it did revenues coming in from oil wells and refineries. Other countries, like Germany and the USSR, instead harbored interest in the petroleum itself. They in turn valued the Romanian oil industry for the energy it could supply to their campaigns. For the Allies, the Romanian oil industry was seen as an easy asset waiting to be seized by Germany; their interest was not in seizing the oil, but rather destroying it and incapacitating Germany.
On the national level, the Romanian army’s interests were to protect the state, which in this case overlapped with the need to defend strategic oil assets. While the army faced critical challenges by simultaneously guarding the oil fields and defending the frontlines, city governances also needed oil for their own needs. On the highly local level, oil equipment merchants, petroleum engineers, and oil field workers were interested in the survival of the Romanian oil industry in order to retain employment.
The conflict has a variety of moving parts to be explored through international, national, and local lenses. This setup provides a more comprehensive approach to understanding the conflict and helps break it down into manageable levels.
International
In a recently declassified recording with the then-Commander in Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces dated June of 1942, Hitler admitted, “if then Russia would occupy Romanian oil sources, well then Germany would [be] lost!”[65] The Allies saw the Romanian oil industry as the Achilles heel of the Nazi empire: if they could destroy them, the Nazis would be stopped dead in their tracks. In the mix of this international political reasoning were the oil multinational companies, who sought to stay profitable wherever they operated. Expectedly, destroyed oil refineries or fields in Romania did not spell good news for the MNCs.
National
Author Maurice Pearton, expert on the Romanian oil industry, notes that economic warfare became the basis of the Allied and Axis strategies in Romania: “The Allies had superior position ‘on the ground’ by reason of their established companies… [and] the State was becoming increasingly pro-German.”[66] According to Pearton, the Romanian state sided with Germany due to its historical and demographic connections with Germany, trade relations, and previous treaties such as the Bucharest Peace.
The Romanian Army thus had to guard its oil fields from Allied attacks. The army served the national government’s interests, which in this case seemed to be more about protecting the oil than protecting its borders.[67] While this might not make sense at first sight, upon closer examination, the Romanian administration had its own reasoning for this decision. In their eyes, the Romanian oil industry was the key to their independence. Fighting off attackers and joining campaigns would not ensure Romania’s survival, but protecting its oil industry would at least preserve the one form of leverage Romania had against the great powers in Europe.
Local
At the local level the conflict affected oil equipment merchants and petroleum engineers in the Romanian extractive sector.[68] These highly skilled laborers favored having a working oil industry in place in Romania. Though oil field workers themselves valued their jobs as well, their interests conflicted with those of local farmers and fishers.[69] Nearby towns often feared the detrimental environmental effects of oil drilling while also desiring a share of the profits.
The Modern Romanian Oil Industry
Today, Romania seeks to increase its political and economic sovereignty by developing and reshaping its petroleum, natural gas, and shale gas industries to decrease its reliance on Russian gas.[70] Russia accounted for almost the entirety of Romania’s total natural gas imports in 2011 (97 percent).[71]
Now an EU state, Romania has also been working on restructuring its oil and coal industries in order to make them more sustainable.[72] The EU seeks to “guarantee the increased provision of gas to European markets over coming decades”, something Romania is attempting to follow with its national policies.[73] In spite of extensive importation, natural gas shortages have led to the Romanian joke, “Don’t open the window. People on the street will catch a cold and die.”[74]
The quest for energy independence has been driven by new explorations into potential fossil fuel deposits. The Shell Corporation, Amoco Corporation, and the U.K.’s Enterprise Oil have begun drilling test wells in Transylvania, the eastern Carpathians, and the Black Sea respectively.[75] The rights to drill and explore granted by the government also included the caveat that a certain “proportion of any production must be shared with the Romanian state.”[76] Miron Bojinca, a Romanian Development Agency petroleum expert, notes that “[new discoveries] would be an enormous boost for the Romanian economy,” yet “[it] will probably be several years before we know what’s out there.”[77]
Recent explorations have netted potentially new oil and gas reserves. According to the CIA, proven oil reserves in Romania are roughly 600 million bbl. (1 January 2013 est.).[78] Resource assessments for the Transylvanian Hybrid Total Petroleum System have estimated around 2.083 trillion cubic feet of gas potentially available for extraction.[79] An ExxonMobil-Petrom partnership estimates crude oil reserves in one of its exploration sites to be upward of 420 million barrels.[80] The fossil fuel resources in the Carpathian–Balkanian Basin Province have been estimated to be “2,076 billion cubic feet of gas, 1,013 million barrels of oil, and 116 million barrels of natural gas liquids.”[81] Exploration efforts, in all, have been based on the idea of “[going] deeper while applying state-of-the-art exploration methods.”[82][83]
Implications
What could modern-day Romania learn from its historical relationship with the oil industry? Now that new reserves may be available, how should the country proceed? Addressing the various international, national, and local issues with policy suggestions at each level may provide feasible answers.[84]
In terms of social concerns, creating Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) between corporate and local entities (particularly Romanian villages) would provide benefits to the local community while also ridding concerns over corruption. One option of a PPP would be the establishment of more modern schools (with modernized facilities) in rural Romanian villages, particularly for the Roma (Gypsy) population. Unlike in World War II, where there was little benefit brought to the local communities from the oil industry, PPPs could provide the local Romanian population with a variety of educational and social benefits.
When addressing political concerns at the national level, transparency becomes paramount. More outreach to local communities with information about mining and exploration is needed. Oil companies may need to make decision-making processes more democratic through more town-hall meetings and increased access to environmental, economic, and trade data. Such transparency did not exist during World War II, and would benefit Romania if present today, enabling more accountability for the multinational companies that will be extracting Romania’s resources.
In regards to economic concerns, the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund would benefit the economic growth of Romania with sustainable income for its social services. Creating a government pension fund from part of Romania’s profits out of the extractive industries sector would ensure that the Romanian extractive industries would have a sustainable and positive impact on the countries in which they operate.
As for concerns regarding international environmental concerns, an Environmental Task Force and stricter regulations regarding new techniques of oil extraction could be imposed. Independent teams sent on-site to monitor corporate compliance with strict environmental laws may ensure maximum accountability toward following companies’ environmental promises. Stricter regulations over new extractive techniques, moreover, would help reduce regulatory loopholes companies may otherwise use to circumnavigate regulations.
In essence, Romania’s oil industry is an intricate and multifaceted natural resource system, undergoing different roles in various conflicts throughout its history. Romania is an aspiring Eastern European state seeking to cement itself as an independent, pro-Western nation free from the sway of Russia. At the same time, it is seeking to gain economic autonomy by diversifying its natural resources and expanding its reserve of available resources. Historically, it has used its resources to solidify its independence from other countries, and there is no reason to believe that this cannot be the case today in the 21st century. Romania seeks to explore offshore, to expand oil drilling across its lands, and to have more access to more resources. So what will then happen? In the near future, Romania may succeed in acquiring the necessary connections and funding to explore for and extract these fossil fuels. As Romania advances into modernity, its best bet for a strong extractive industry is apparent: listen to the age-old adage and study the past.
James Gadea (’16) attends Georgetown University.
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[1] Ray Ward, Those Brave Crews: The Epic Raid to Destroy Hitler’s Ploesti Oil Fields (Waverly, NY: Weldon Publications, 2003), 5-6.
[2] Ilie Gadea was born on May 2, 1913 in what was the former empire of Austria-Hungary. He died June 28, 2009 at the age of 96. He also happened to be my great-grandfather, whom I am very thankful to have known.
[3] Gadea, Dinu, Interview by James Gadea, Personal Interview, December 28, 2013.
[4] Jay A. Stout, Fortress Ploesti: The Campaign to Destroy Hitler’s Oil (Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2003), xvi.
[5] This is why post-WWII, the USSR was able to annex Moldova.
[6] The Romanian Embassy in Kuwait, “The Romanian Oil Industry,” N.D., <http://kuweit.mae.ro/sites/kuweit.mae.ro/files/romanian_oil_industry.pdf>.
[7] Gadea, Erica, Interview by James Gadea, Personal Interview, December 28, 2013.
[8] The Romanian Embassy in Kuwait, “The Romanian Oil Industry,” N.D., <http://kuweit.mae.ro/sites/kuweit.mae.ro/files/romanian_oil_industry.pdf>.
[9] A blowout protector is a device that stops oil derricks from exploding under extreme pressure.
[10] Invented by the Romanian, Lazar Edeleanu.
[11] The Romanian Embassy in Kuwait, “The Romanian Oil Industry,” N.D., <http://kuweit.mae.ro/sites/kuweit.mae.ro/files/romanian_oil_industry.pdf>.
[12] Bitumen is a type of asphalt, frequently used during the Byzantine era.
[13] Radio Romania International, “The History of Romanian Oil Industry,” Radio Romania International, last modified July 9, 2007, accessed May 10, 2014, <http://old.rri.ro/arh-art.shtml?lang=1&sec=9&art=3596>.
[14] Gheorghe Buzatu, History of Romanian Oil Volume I (Bucharest: Mica Valahie House, 2006), 33.
[15] Ibid., 34.
[16] Ibid.
[17] The boyars were a rich upper class in Romania who were essentially the serf lords of early Romania, taxing and receiving a portion of the agricultural production from their serfs’ lands.
[18] Gheorghe Buzatu, History of Romanian Oil Volume I (Bucharest: Mica Valahie House, 2006), 33.
[19] Ibid, 35.
[20] “The History of Romanian Oil Industry, ” 2007.
[21] “The Romanian Oil Industry,” <http://kuweit.mae.ro/sites/kuweit.mae.ro/files/romanian_oil_industry.pdf>.
[22] “150 Years of Oil in Romania!” History, <http://www.150deanidepetrol.ro/history.html>.
[23] Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 24-25.
[24] The 1861 oil well was drilled to a depth of 150m, an enormous amount for the time.
[25] “150 Years of Oil in Romania!” History, <http://www.150deanidepetrol.ro/history.html>.
[26] Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991), 132.
[27] “The Romanian Oil Industry”.
[28] Yergin, 132.
[29] Ralph W. Hidy and Muriel E. Hidy, Pioneering in Big Business, 1882-1911 (New York: Harper & Brothers,1951).
[30] George Sweet Gibb, and Evelyn H. Knowlton, The Resurgent Years, 1911-1927 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956).
[31] Ibid., 179-180.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Nicolae Titulescu, George G. Potra, and C. I. Turcu, Romania’s Foreign Policy, 1937 (București: Encyclopaedic House, 1994).
[35] Ibid.
[36] Yergin, 261.
[37] Robert E. Ebel, Communist Trade in Oil and Gas; an Evaluation of the Future Export Capability of the Soviet Bloc (New York: Praeger, 1970), 25.
[38] “150 Years of Oil in Romania!” <http://www.150deanidepetrol.ro/facts-about-oil.html>.
[39] Robert Goralski, and Russell W. Freeburg, Oil & War: How the Deadly Struggle for Fuel in WWII Meant Victory or Defeat, (New York: Morrow, 1987), 23.
[40] Yergin, 334.
[41] “The Romanian Oil Industry”. <http://kuweit.mae.ro/sites/kuweit.mae.ro/files/romanian_oil_industry.pdf>.
[42] Colin Woodard, “Romanian Oil Industry Strives for a Comeback,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 2, 1995, <http://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0502/02081.html/%28page%29/2>.
[43] Ibid.
[44] Ibid.
[45] “The Romanian Oil Industry”.
[46] David Painter, “International Oil and National Security,” Daedalus 120 (1991): 184.
[47] Robert Goralski, and Russell W. Freeburg, Oil & War: How the Deadly Struggle for Fuel in WWII Meant Victory or Defeat, (New York: Morrow, 1987), 214-215.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Charles Hood, and Christine Mugnolo, Bombing Ploesti, August 1st, 1943 (Los Angeles: Red Hen, 2008).
[50] Ibid.
[51] Also in World War I, Romanians destroyed their own oil fields at the request of the Allied forces, so that Germany could not seize them.
[52] Yergin, 334-335.
[53] Ibid.
[54] Ibid.
[55] Goralski, 79.
[56] Yergin, 334.
[57] Goralski, 79.
[58] Stout, 2003.
[59] Goralski, 78-79.
[60] “Cele Mai Recente ştiri,” Petrom, <http://www.petrom.com/>.
[61] Alan Tidwell, “Conflict Analysis.” Lecture, Washington, DC, Feb. 6, 2014.
[62] Richard Ned Lebow, Dean G. Pruitt, and Jeffrey Z. Rubin, “Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate, and Settlement.” Political Psychology 8.4 (1987): 685. .
[63] Leslie E. Grayson, National Oil Companies (Chichester: Wiley, 1981), 5.
[64] Dietrich Eichholtz, War for Oil: The Nazi Quest for an Oil Empire (Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2012).
[65] “Înregistrare Senzaţională Cu Hitler: Fără Petrolul Din România Nu Aş Fi Atacat Niciodată URSS-ul | Historia,” Historia.ro, <http://www.historia.ro/exclusiv_web/actualitate/articol/inregistrare-senzationala-hitler-petrolul-romania-nu-fi-atacat-nici>.
[66] Maurice Pearton, Oil and the Romanian State, 1895-1948 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 244-245.
[67] Refec, Cornel. Interview by James Gadea, Personal Interview, December 29, 2013.
[68] Stephen Howarth and Joost Jonker, Powering the Hydrocarbon Revolution, 1939-1973 (London: Oxford University Press, 2007).
[69] “The Dutch Disease” The Economist, November 26, 1977.
[70] US Energy Information Administration, “Romania”, Last modified August 2013, <http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=ro>.
[71] Ibid.
[72] International Energy Agency. Black Sea Energy Survey (Paris: IEA, 2000).
[73] James Marriott, and Mika Minio-Paluello, The Oil Road (London: Verso, 2013), 109.
[74] Goralski, 330.
[75] Woodard, “Romanian Oil Industry Strives for a Comeback,” 1995.
[76] Ibid.
[77] Ibid.
[78] Central Intelligence Agency. “Field Listing :: Crude Oil – Proved Reserves.”Central Intelligence Agency. <https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2244.html>.
[79] US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey, Transylvanian Composite Total Petroleum System of the Transylvanian Basin Province, Romania, Eastern Europe, by M. J. Pawlewicz, US Geological Survey, Bulletin 2204-E, (Reston, VA, 2005), <http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/2204/e/pdf/B2204E.pdf>.
[80] “Tech Talk – The Potential for Future Production from Romania.” The Oil Drum. 23 Jan. 2012. 10 May 2014. <http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8855>.
[81]US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey, Total Petroleum Systems of the Carpathian–Balkanian Basin Province of Romania and Bulgaria, US Geological Survey Bulletin 2204–F, (Reston, Virginia, 2007), <http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/2204/f/pdf/B2204F_508.pdf>.
[82] B.M. Popescu, “Romania’s petroleum systems and their remaining potential,” Petroleum
Geoscience 1 (1995): 337–350.
[83] Csaba Krézsek, “Petroleum Systems of Romania,” AAPG European Region Newsletter, June 2011 <http://europe.aapg.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/AAPG_Newsletter-June-2011_final_fixed2.pdf>.
[84] Tidwell, “Conflict Analysis,” 2014.
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