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Imperial Japan started World War II partially to seize control of petroleum fields by force. What if the Allies had decided to enact a scorched earth policy for Pacific petroleum infrastructure at risk of capture? It would deprive the Japanese of a vital resource and force them to expend critical resources restoring capacity, and it would cause minimal impact to the Allies after the war due to the less constrained petroleum markets of the time. As late as the 1950s there was enough supply that the West was able to embargo Iranian petroleum without causing an energy crisis.