Heritage Oil
Contents
Angola
In 1991, Tony Buckingham reached a deal with Angolan state oil company SONANGOL and Ranger Oil, which gave him a 10 per cent share in the Ranger-operated Block 4 oilfield off the Angolan coast. The 10 per cent was originally assigned to Branch Energy Ltd, which turned it over to Heritage Oil and Gas, which was registered in the Bahamas.
A separate agreement provided for the creation of Ranger Oil West Africa Ltd, which would be 51 per cent owned by Ranger Oil and 49 per cent owned by Heritage Oil and Gas. The new company was intended to provide technical and advisory services to SONANGOL.[1]
In January 1993, UNITA over-ran Soyo, an important supply base for Ranger and other oil companies. UNITA refused requests for access. Buckingham discussed the issue with other oil companies, and his associate Simon Mann suggested an approach to Eeben Barlow's private military company Executive Outcomes for help. A proposal to retake Soyo was agreed with the Angolan Government.[2] Executive Outcomes began its assault on Soyo on February 16 1993, and succeeded in taking the town, which as however, retaken by UNITA after EO's withdrawal some six weeks later.[3]
Democratic Republic of Congo
- A source in Congo told me that Heritage currently hires UPDF, RPA, and MLC soldiers to protect their concessions from rebels and dissident FARDC soldiers. Another source who works in the oil industry told me that Heritage has very poor drilling techniques and are lucky if they strike oil making them hazardous to the local environment. Sources in Congo have also said that, in years past, Heritage has influenced much of the fighting in Ituri.[4]
Iraq
Heritage received an oil producing licence and a refinery contractfrom the Kurdistan Regional Government on 2 October 2007.
- Paul Atherton, chief financial officer, said the deal would not compromise the company's ambitions to work with the government in Baghdad, where some politicians have voiced displeasure at the Kurdish law.
- "We like to think we have good relationships with both sides and that we will not be blacklisted," he said. Heritage had provided technical training for both Kurdish and Baghdad-based oil officials. Mr Atherton expected the deal to be validated by the Baghdad government in due course.[5]
The Financial Times story on the deal noted [[Tony Buckigham's history of links to Executive Outcomes and Sandline International.
- Industry sources said the status of Heritage in Iraq could be boosted because of Mr Buckingham's connection to Tim Spicer, who ran Sandline and whose company Aegis provides security services to the US government in Iraq.
Website
People
Directors and Management
- Tony Buckingham - Chief Executive Officer
- Paul Atherton - Chief Financial Officer
- General Sir Michael Wilkes - Non-Executive Director
- John McLeod - Non-Executive Director
- Gregory Turnbull - Non-Executive Director
- Brian Smith - VP Exploration
- Armen Sahakian - VP Business Development
- Stephen Kobak - VP Production Russia and CIS
- James Baban - General Manager, Kurdistan
Former directors
- Micael Gulbenkian - Former chief executive and chairman[6]
References
- ↑ Making a Killing: How Corporations Use Armed Force to Do Business, by Madelaine Drohan, Random House Canada, 2003, p200.
- ↑ Making a Killing: How Corporations Use Armed Force to Do Business, by Madelaine Drohan, Random House Canada, 2003, pp205-207.
- ↑ Bloodsong, by Jim Hooper, HarperCollinsPublishers, 2003, pp42-54.
- ↑ Update on the Congo, by David Barouski, ZNet, 25 July 2006.
- ↑ COMPANIES - EUROPE: Heritage agrees Kurdish oil contract, by Dino Mahtani, Financial Times, 3 October 2007.
- ↑ Heritage Oil Corporation announces new Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerCNW Group, 6 October 2006.
