Replies

October 19, 2004
Oscar Wyatt's deal with the devil

This NY Times article follows up on last week's news that longtime Houstonian Oscar Wyatt is one of three individuals and four companies that federal investigators are focusing on for who allegedly receiving vouchers for oil from Saddam Hussein as he sought to flout United Nations sanctions. The Times article notes the close relationship between Mr. Wyatt and Saddam:

Mr. Wyatt . . . traveled to Baghdad as recently as early 2003, as the United States was preparing for war, to meet with officials in Mr. Hussein's government. Mr. Wyatt - once called in Texas Monthly magazine "the most hated oilman in Texas" - met Mr. Hussein in 1972, just after Iraq's oil industry had been nationalized, and eventually became one of the biggest United States importers of Iraqi oil.

The two met again in 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait and Mr. Wyatt flew to Baghdad on a company jet to help negotiate the release of nearly two dozen American oil workers whom Mr. Hussein had turned into "human shields."

The relationship was so close that when the United Nations authorized Iraq in 1996 to begin selling oil again, under the Oil for Food program, Mr. Wyatt and Coastal secured the first tanker shipment to leave the country.

And that close relationship is at the heart of the criminal investigation into Mr. Wyatt's activities:

The years of effort on Mr. Wyatt's part to court Iraqi officials and build a venture to export Iraqi oil to the United States produced ample rewards: he and companies that he has been linked to earned an estimated $23 million in profit in the seven years of the Oil for Food program, according to sales and profit estimates included in the C.I.A. report by Charles Duelfer; Mr. Wyatt disputes that figure.

And, lest we forget, Mr. Wyatt's used his relationship with Saddam to attain a humanitarian achievement:

By the late 1980's, Coastal was importing as much as 250,000 barrels of oil a day from Iraq. As these oil imports became more and more important to Coastal's operations, Mr. Wyatt became more outspoken in his opposition to any threatened or standing trade sanctions by the United States in the Middle East, . . . including a move by Congress to impose restrictions on trade with Iraq after Mr. Hussein used poison gas against the Kurds.

It was Mr. Wyatt's surprise trip to Baghdad in December 1990, however, that finally brought his relationship with Iraq into the spotlight. He met then with Mr. Hussein to negotiate the release of American hostages. The effort was opposed by the administration of George H. W. Bush, but Mr. Wyatt came home a hero and he wept at a meeting of the released hostages and their families.

"It was not a stunt," said Bobby Parker, a drilling rig electrician who had been held for 128 days before being rescued. "Oscar Wyatt is just not that type of person."

The hostages were safe, but ultimately, Mr. Wyatt's goal had not been fully achieved. He had hoped to prevent a military move by the United States on Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, a war that, he said, the United States had no reason to start.

Five years later in 1996, Mr. Wyatt's relations with Iraq were again in the news:

Mr. Wyatt's ties to Iraq again raised eyebrows, when the first tanker laden with crude oil sailed out of Mina al-Bakr, Iraq's main export oil terminal, in December 1996, in Iraq's legal return to global oil markets.

The ship had been chartered by one of Mr. Wyatt's companies.

This was the start of the Oil for Food program, which ultimately would result in the export of 3.4 billion barrels, earning $65 billion for the Iraqi government over the next seven years, money that was used to buy food and medicine, maintain oil fields and pay reparations from the first gulf war, among other spending.

My Wyatt, through spokespersons, declines to comment on any of this other than to deny that he engaged in any wrongdoing with regard to his business relations with Iraq. However, the Times article notes that one competitor characterized Mr. Wyatt's propensity to enter into difficult business deals in the following manner:

"He is not afraid of the devil."

http://tinyurl.com/a45ew

The Man Who Bought the Oil From Iraq
By SIMON ROMERO and ERIC LIPTON

Published: October 19, 2004

HOUSTON, Oct. 18 - Billions of dollars of Iraqi oil had been sold under a United Nations program - and food and other goods bought with the proceeds - when Saddam Hussein decided in 2000 that he personally wanted a bigger cut of the action. Documents now suggest that at least one United States company acceded to that demand, paying surcharges that kept the oil flowing.

The action by the Coastal Corporation, which was founded by the Texas entrepreneur and oilman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., is detailed in a formal Iraqi government tally of secret payments made from September 2000 to December 2003, when steps were taken by American and British officials to stop the surcharges.

Coastal, the only publicly traded American oil company on the list, is shown as having paid $201,877 in surcharges. It is a small piece of the $228 million in surcharges on oil sales that Mr. Hussein collected, largely from Russian companies, according to a Central Intelligence Agency report released last week.

Mr. Wyatt, a former drill-bit salesman in South Texas who built a hydra-headed energy empire, said through a spokeswoman Monday that he had no knowledge of Coastal's paying any surcharges. A spokeswoman for the El Paso Corporation, which acquired Coastal in 2001, declined to comment, citing a grand jury subpoena the company received from a federal court in New York.

The inclusion of Coastal on the list - prepared by postwar officials from the State Oil Marketing Organization of Iraq - is one indication of the special relationship that Mr. Wyatt and Coastal had with Iraq, dating back three decades.

Mr. Wyatt, 80, acknowledged Monday through the spokeswoman that he had traveled to Baghdad as recently as early 2003, as the United States was preparing for war, to meet with officials in Mr. Hussein's government. Mr. Wyatt - once called in Texas Monthly magazine "the most hated oilman in Texas" - met Mr. Hussein in 1972, just after Iraq's oil industry had been nationalized, and eventually became one of the biggest United States importers of Iraqi oil.

The two met again in 1990, after Iraq invaded Kuwait and Mr. Wyatt flew to Baghdad on a company jet to help negotiate the release of nearly two dozen American oil workers whom Mr. Hussein had turned into "human shields."

The relationship was so close that when the United Nations authorized Iraq in 1996 to begin selling oil again, under the Oil for Food program, Mr. Wyatt and Coastal secured the first tanker shipment to leave the country.

After Coastal was sold to El Paso, Mr. Wyatt is listed personally as the recipient of an Iraqi oil allocation and Coastal was no longer listed. United States companies were not allowed to have any direct contact with the Iraqi government outside of the official Oil for Food program, and any money that went to Mr. Hussein's government was supposed to be used only to pay for food, medicine and other approved items.

Mr. Wyatt said in an interview earlier this year that he was aware that it was a common practice within the Iraqi oil industry for companies to pay surcharges, generally 10 to 35 cents a barrel.

Regarding Coastal's shipments, Mr. Wyatt said in the interview that company executives had no doubt that a broker, but not the company, had to pay a surcharge. Mr. Wyatt said Coastal officials also told him that "there was always a charge at the port" as well.

The years of effort on Mr. Wyatt's part to court Iraqi officials and build a venture to export Iraqi oil to the United States produced ample rewards: he and companies that he has been linked to earned an estimated $23 million in profit in the seven years of the Oil for Food program, according to sales and profit estimates included in the C.I.A. report by Charles Duelfer; Mr. Wyatt disputes that figure.

The unusually close ties with Mr. Hussein's Iraq and the inclusion of Coastal on this list of entities that paid the surcharges have drawn Mr. Wyatt into a maelstrom of inquiries, including efforts by committees in Congress and officials at the Treasury Department and the United States attorney's office in Manhattan.

"If you did not pay, you did not play," said a spokesman for the House International Relations Committee, which is investigating the Oil for Food program, including the operations of Mr. Wyatt and other oil traders. "We have an obligation to find out what happened."

Continued
1 | 2 | 3 | Next>>

http://tinyurl.com/a45ew