Henri Deterding

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Henri Wilhelm August Deterding KBE (Hon), (19 April 1866, Amsterdam - 4 February 1939, St Moritz) was for many years the chairman of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and then Royal Dutch/Shell, one of the world's largest oil companies. He was made an honorary KBE in 1920 for service to Anglo/Dutch relations, but mainly for his work supplying Allies with petroleum during WWI.

Called the "Napoleon of Oil", Deterding was responsible for developing the tanker fleet that let Royal Dutch compete with the Shell company of Marcus Samuel. He led Royal Dutch to several major mergers and acquisitions, including a merger with the "Shell" Transport and Trading Company in 1907 and the purchase of Azerbaijan oil fields from the Rothschild family in 1911. In the last years of his life, Deterding became controversial when he became a strong supporter of the German Nazi party. In 1936, he discussed with them the sale of a year's oil reserves on credit; the next year, he was forced to resign from the company's board.

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[edit] References

Paul Hendrix (2002). Sir Henri Deterding and Royal Dutch–Shell: Changing Control of World Oil, 1900–1940. Bristol Academic Press. ISBN 0-9513762-8-4.