The Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office (IRMO) estimates that Iraq loses $8million in revenue per day due to sabotage on its northern oil and gas pipelines. After the war various initiatives to address the rebuilding and repair of the oil infrastructure, and to secure strategically significant sites and sections of pipeline were proposed. The most important of these was the contract awarded in early August 2003 to Erinys for the creation of an Oil Protection Force (OPF).

Between August 2003 and December 2004, Erinys Iraq, trained, equipped and mobilised a 16,000 strong Iraqi guard force to protect the pipelines. This was achieved against a backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating security environment.

The OPF brochure tells the story of how Erinys achieved what it did, in many cases against the odds, and examines some of the broad operational, political and contractual factors which shaped the force. It also introduces the reader to an eclectic mix of people who worked as an effective team in an extraordinary time and place in history, and who, with sheer single minded determination, created something that made a powerful difference for the better.