Friedhelm Eronat

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Friedhelm Eronat (born 1954 in Prem, Bavaria, Germany) is a British-based millionaire business leader mainly involved in oil trading. Eronat is one of the world's most successful oil dealmakers, and one of the most secretive men in Britain. His estimated wealth is over $100m (£55m), built on controversial deals in places such as Nigeria, Russia and Kazakhstan. [1]

Eronat studied production management and oil engineering at Nicholls State University in Louisiana, graduating in 1975. He then entered the oil business.

In autumn 1997, Jordanian businessman Farhat Tabbah filed a suit in London against Eronat and two American businessmen (all working for Mobil at the time), accusing them of money laundering and bribing President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev with millions of dollars in order to gain access to the Tengiz oil field, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. [2]

Eronat is married to Melisa Lawton.

In 2003 he renounced US citizenship and became a British citizen. (US citizens are barred from dealing with Sudan under sanctions dating from 1997.)

Eronat has been accused of purchasing oil exploration rights in Darfur (Sudan) from the Sudanese government, which has been responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocide (see Darfur conflict). It is alleged that he bought these rights on 21 October 2003 through the Cliveden Group, of which he was the 100% stakeholder at the time. [3],