Oil in T2k

[StainlessSteelCynic]

The relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia would be quite interesting I think. Both nations have Islam as their primary religion but Malaysia still has a relationship with the British Commonwealth and various nations that were part of it. Despite their shared religion, I would think that the Malaysians would lean more towards those nations than they would towards Indonesia particularly as the Malaysia-Indonesia conflict is still within living memory of the older population.
For those who don't know of this particular war, a very rough description: - Indonesia actively sought to prevent the creation of the nation of Malaysia in the 1960s and various British Commonwealth nations fought in the war to allow Malaysia to come into existence.

Regardless of what infrastructure Malaysia might possess for refining oil, it should be remembered that the Malaysian region on the island of Borneo, surrounds the nation of Brunei.
And Brunei has oil.
The other nations in the region have oil but Brunei is basically a country that revolves around oil & natural gas - 90% of it's GDP was derived from crude oil and natural gas through the 1990s into the 2000s. It's built upon the back of oil & gas exports. A tempting target for Indonesia, they only have to hack their way through no more than 50-100 km (31-62 miles) of Malaysian territory to get to Brunei.

A big question would be, would Australia aid Malaysia if Indonesia decided to either attack Malaysia directly or tried to force their way through Malaysian territory to get Brunei?

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

A big question would be, would Australia aid Malaysia if Indonesia decided to either attack Malaysia directly or tried to force their way through Malaysian territory to get Brunei?

In T2K? Not likely!
The will would be there, but the ability is sorely lacking. There's not even enough troops including New Zealand and most of the south pacific island nations to hold the Indonesians in PNG let alone open a second front.
And that's AFTER a massive increase in military forces by the defenders.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

It's certainly possible that a confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia could be the beginning of any Indonesian campaign to capture Papua New Guinea. The Indonesians have long had territorial ambitions that cover Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Timor and Papua New Guinea.
There's so little information in canon that we can have it play out in whatever way we want.
It's also possible that Australian aid to Malaysia might be in other forms, e.g. intelligence, training, small arms ammo and so on.

[Legbreaker]

Intelligence I can see, but anything else, even training, is not going to be possible I'm afraid - every instructor, every rifle, every bullet is needed for Australia as they're basically having to double the size of the army alone almost overnight just to turn into a credible speed bump for the prewar Indonesian military strength.

[RN7]

I don't know what conditions are like in Venezuela in T2K but I would say they aren't very good. France could get involved in Venezuela because of its oil. There are active and quite large French military bases in French Guiana and in the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe that are near Venezuela. France could send forces to bolster whoever is running Venezuela to secure oil supplies.

[Raellus]

Here's an oil-related question for y'all. IIRC, Mediterranean Cruise identifies Ploesti, Romania as the source of the gasoline that fuels Soviet 4th Guards Tank Army's Summer 2000 counteroffensive (you know, the one that kills US 5th ID).

How did the Soviets get the gasoline from Romania to Poland?

Romanian partisans are very active in the Transylvania region. Much of Ukraine is in active rebellion. I don't think v1 canon mentions Moldavia, but I reckon it too is, at the very least, restive, given its ethnic connection to neighboring Romania (IRL many Moldavians wanted their country to be annexed by Romania after the fall of the Iron Curtain and dissolution of the USSR). Many regional transportation hubs have been damaged or destroyed by nuclear strikes. I imagine that the railroads are in very bad shape.

Has this question been addressed in a canonical source that I am not aware of?

I have a theory, but I'm interested in what y'all come up with.

[Legbreaker]

The 4th Guards didn't start in Poland, that's where they ended up. They carried their fuel with them.
They started (according to NATO intel) in the Ukraine, but it's not known exactly where. Getting the fuel from the refineries to the units was likely done by truck, rail and possibly ship as well. Plenty of options available and plenty of time to do it in to - we don't know which month's production was given to the 4th.....

[bash]

The Soviets getting fuel for their summer 2000 offensive is something they really only need to do once. So they could bum rush Romania with mechanized infantry, with minimal armor, followed by a fleet of trucks. The combat vehicles and trucks refuel and load fuel onto the trucks in barrels, tanks, and whatever.

The fuel force then rendezvous with the main body of armor. The armor could be loaded on trailers with APCs and gun trucks acting as convoy escorts. They can move along roads so long as they can minimally repair damaged sections. Partisans in Romania and elsewhere could inflict some damage but if the ROE is "shoot anyone approaching" they'll just wait for them to pass through.

Since this is one big move against forces they're reasonably sure they can rout they can just drop stragglers and broken down transports. The 5 ID's intelligence isn't likely much faster than the 4th Guard convoy. So they get the intel right before the shooting starts.

So...that's my theory.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by RN7

I don't know what conditions are like in Venezuela in T2K but I would say they aren't very good. France could get involved in Venezuela because of its oil. There are active and quite large French military bases in French Guiana and in the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe that are near Venezuela. France could send forces to bolster whoever is running Venezuela to secure oil supplies.

Based on the V2.2 edition I would say Venezuela got nailed pretty badly - and the fact that Gateway to the Spanish Main only mentions Aruba and there is no mention of Curacao or Trinidad I have a feeling they got hit bad too.

From the V2.2.

Central And South America

The oil-producing areas of the Caribbean were severely damaged by nuclear and/or conventional attacks, largely in an effort to deny them to the enemy