Friedhelm Eronat

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Friedhelm Eronat (born 1953 in Prien (Germany), the son of Anna and Josef Eronat, is a Geneva-based millionaire business leader mainly involved in oil trading, exploration and production. Eronat is one of the world's most successful oil dealmakers, and respectively a rather secretive man. His estimated wealth is over $100m (£55m), built on 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 early 1970's. He then entered the international 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].All allegations by Farhat Tabbah were dismissed by the High Court in London and Farhat Tabbah was ordered to pay damages and all legal expenses.

In 2003 Friedhelm Eronat renounced US citizenship and became a British citizen.

Cliveden Petroleum Sudan, a company allegedly linked to Friedhelm Eronat, had a minority stake in a consortium which acquired exploration rights from the Sudanese Government in 2003 in Darfur(Sudan). Cliveden Petroleum Sudan sold its interest in 2005 and has no involvement in the country any more.