Zapata Petroleum: Difference between revisions
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In 1958, drilling contracts with the seven largest U.S. oil producers included wells 40 miles (64 km) north of Isabela, Cuba, near the island Cay Sal. | In 1958, drilling contracts with the seven largest U.S. oil producers included wells 40 miles (64 km) north of Isabela, Cuba, near the island Cay Sal. | ||
In 1963 the Liedtkes merged several oil companies, including Zapata Petroleum and South Penn Oil, to form the Pennzoil Company. Hugh Liedtke was the first president of Pennzoil, now a brand of [[Shell Oil]].<ref>National Archives Catalog #10480871, "Zapata Petroleum Corporation" https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10480871</ref> | |||
= CIA Operations & Cover-Up = | = CIA Operations & Cover-Up = | ||
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Also in the early 1960s, Zapata arranged several secret deals with Oil Executive and UC Regent [[Edwin Pauley]], who was working closely with CIA Director [[John McCone]], FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]], and future California Governor & President [[Ronald Reagan]] to defeat anti-war, civil rights, and environmental justice protests across [[University of California]] campuses.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_W._Pauley</ref> With the help of [[Halliburton]], a join venture was organized between Bush, Pauley, and Mexican politician Jorge Díaz Serrano under the name of Permargo, building on previous deals between Zapata and Pauley's [[Pan American Petroleum]]. | Also in the early 1960s, Zapata arranged several secret deals with Oil Executive and UC Regent [[Edwin Pauley]], who was working closely with CIA Director [[John McCone]], FBI Director [[J. Edgar Hoover]], and future California Governor & President [[Ronald Reagan]] to defeat anti-war, civil rights, and environmental justice protests across [[University of California]] campuses.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_W._Pauley</ref> With the help of [[Halliburton]], a join venture was organized between Bush, Pauley, and Mexican politician Jorge Díaz Serrano under the name of Permargo, building on previous deals between Zapata and Pauley's [[Pan American Petroleum]]. | ||
The deal with Permargo is not mentioned in Zapata's annual reports. Zapata's filing records with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are intact for the years 1955–1959, and again from 1967 onwards. However, records for the years 1960–1966 are missing. The commission's records officer admitted that 1,000 boxes of records were placed in a session file to be destroyed | The deal with Permargo is not mentioned in Zapata's annual reports. Zapata's filing records with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are intact for the years 1955–1959, and again from 1967 onwards. However, records for the years 1960–1966 are missing. The commission's records officer admitted that 1,000 boxes of records were placed in a session file to be destroyed by a federal warehouse, which indeed pulped them. The destruction of records occurred either in October 1983 (according to the records officer), or in 1981 shortly after H.W. Bush became Vice President of the United States (according to, Wison Carpenter, a record analyst with the commission). In 1988, a Bush spokesman claimed that the deal lasted only from March to September 1960. However, Zapata sold the oil-drilling rig Nola I to Pemargo in 1964.<ref>Jonathan Kwitny, "The Mexican Connection: A look at an old George Bush business venture", Barron's September 19, 1988. Cited with further discussion by Russ Baker, Family of Secrets (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009) pp. 37 and 503.</ref> | ||
= Sources = | = Sources = | ||
Latest revision as of 17:52, 5 December 2022
Background
After graduating from Yale (where he was in Skull and Bones like his father, Prescott Bush), George H.W. Bush was recruited by his father's business partners and fellow bonesmen Roland and W. Averrell Harriman to work for Dresser industries (now Halliburton) in the oil and military industries.[1]
In 1953, H.W. and John Overbey formed a new business with Hugh Liedtke and Bill Liedtke named Zapata Petroleum Corporation (after the 1952 film Viva Zapata! in which Marlin Brando portrayed Mexican rebel Emiliano Zapata). [2]
The corporation was based in Midland, Texas. Hugh Liedtke became president, and George Bush became vice president of the new business venture. In 1954, the parent company formed Zapata Off-Shore Company, of which Bush was named president. In 1959, the company was split, leaving the Liedtkes with control of Zapata Petroleum Corporation and establishing Bush as the head of Zapata Off-Shore.[3]
Big Oil
In 1958, drilling contracts with the seven largest U.S. oil producers included wells 40 miles (64 km) north of Isabela, Cuba, near the island Cay Sal.
In 1963 the Liedtkes merged several oil companies, including Zapata Petroleum and South Penn Oil, to form the Pennzoil Company. Hugh Liedtke was the first president of Pennzoil, now a brand of Shell Oil.[4]
CIA Operations & Cover-Up
During the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Zapata allowed the CIA to use its oil rigs as listening posts. In 1988, Barron's also reported that Zapata was "a part time purchasing front for the Central Intelligence Agency."[5]
Also in the early 1960s, Zapata arranged several secret deals with Oil Executive and UC Regent Edwin Pauley, who was working closely with CIA Director John McCone, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and future California Governor & President Ronald Reagan to defeat anti-war, civil rights, and environmental justice protests across University of California campuses.[6] With the help of Halliburton, a join venture was organized between Bush, Pauley, and Mexican politician Jorge Díaz Serrano under the name of Permargo, building on previous deals between Zapata and Pauley's Pan American Petroleum.
The deal with Permargo is not mentioned in Zapata's annual reports. Zapata's filing records with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission are intact for the years 1955–1959, and again from 1967 onwards. However, records for the years 1960–1966 are missing. The commission's records officer admitted that 1,000 boxes of records were placed in a session file to be destroyed by a federal warehouse, which indeed pulped them. The destruction of records occurred either in October 1983 (according to the records officer), or in 1981 shortly after H.W. Bush became Vice President of the United States (according to, Wison Carpenter, a record analyst with the commission). In 1988, a Bush spokesman claimed that the deal lasted only from March to September 1960. However, Zapata sold the oil-drilling rig Nola I to Pemargo in 1964.[7]
Sources
- ↑ Russ Baker, Family of Secrets (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009) pp. 23–28.
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/01/obituaries/george-bushs-life-in-13-objects.html; Amy Schoenfeld Walker + Amy Marsh, Dec 1 2018, The New York Times
- ↑ National Archives Catalog #10480871, "Zapata Petroleum Corporation" https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10480871
- ↑ National Archives Catalog #10480871, "Zapata Petroleum Corporation" https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10480871
- ↑ Ann Louise Bardach (2009). Ch: "The Island and the Empire" in "Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington." p. 60
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_W._Pauley
- ↑ Jonathan Kwitny, "The Mexican Connection: A look at an old George Bush business venture", Barron's September 19, 1988. Cited with further discussion by Russ Baker, Family of Secrets (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009) pp. 37 and 503.