Oscar Wyatt
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Oscar Sherman Wyatt, Jr. (born 1924) is an American businessman.
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[edit] Early history
Wyatt was born in 1924 in Beaumont, Texas and grew up in Navasota, Texas. He worked on farms and at a gas station before earning his pilot's license at age 16 to work as a crop duster. Wyatt later attended Texas A & M University but left in 1942 to enlist in the Army Air Corps. As a combat aviator, Wyatt was a decorated WWII pilot by age 21. After the war, he returned to Texas A & M and earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering. .[1]
[edit] Early business history
Wyatt got his start in the energy business in 1950 when he mortgaged his Ford sedan to finance the Hardly Able Oil Company, the forerunner of Coastal Oil and Gas Company, which he founded in 1955. By 1963, Coastal stock was being traded on the New York Stock Exchange and under Wyatt's vision and leadership, Coastal grew into a company with $20 billion in assets, more than 18,000 miles of pipeline and four world-class refineries. His knowledge and ability helped guide Coastal through the turbulence of the oil marketplace in the 1980s and as a result, Coastal avoided the possible pitfalls of a volatile market, becoming one of the Nation's largest and most diversified energy companies.
Even early, his career was benchmarked by scandal, and scandalous behaviors. In the early 1970s he saw a gain for himself, even if it was illegal, and many said, immoral. As natural gas rose, he sold off all his gas reserves at great gain to himself. He then reneged his contract for supplying natural gas to Austin, San Antonio and much of south Texas as well, stating correctly that he lacked the natural gas reserves to rescue those cities from the winter cold, or to heat dinner. The University of Texas as well as public schools cancelled classes for lack of heat, as the crisis grew worse. Under pressure to act to relieve the lack of natural gas in 1/3 of Texas caused by Wyatt's actions, gas was necessarily bought open-market at spot prices, and caused a near-doubling in utility costs. Even electricity nearly doubled, as electricity primarily was gas-generated in Texas then. His court-ordered penalty for this fraud was forfeiture of Valero Refining, among other assets. Some in Texas think Wyatt was the inspiration for JR Ewing—older, rounder, and nastier, with friends like Saddam Hussein.
For complete USAToday article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-12-21-wyatt-cover_x.htm
[edit] Later business history
Wyatt retired as Coastal's chairman in 1997 yet continued to serve as Executive Committee chairman until Coastal's sale to the El Paso Natural Gas Company in January 2001. In July 2001, Wyatt created a new company - the NuCoastal Corporation - to explore energy opportunities available across the globe. Today, Wyatt continues to consult with other petroleum related interests to help them improve their processes and procedures, and maximize their pipeline and refinery operations, resulting in better returns for common shareholders.[2]
[edit] Associations and Contributions
Oscar Wyatt served Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson as the leader of the American delegation to the United Nations for international gas pipelines. Over the years, he's enjoyed high-level political and personal relationships in the United States and abroad. He is sought out for counsel on a non-partisan basis and has been closely involved with other Presidents including Richard M. Nixon, and Ronald W. Reagan, along with various Members of Congress.[3] Wyatt participated in and negotiated the rules under which international gas pipelines operate in Europe today and he is listed among the 100 Most Influential People in the Petroleum, Gas, and Electricity industries (Hart Publications).
As a graduate of Texas A & M University, Wyatt is honored to be a member of the A & M Corps of Cadets' Hall of Honor, and member of the Academy of Distinguished Graduates, Texas A & M Mechanical Engineering Department. The government of the Philippines also honored him for his distinguished service to their country during WWII at their 50th anniversary celebration of their liberation from the Japanese. Wyatt was the honored guest of the President of the Philippines. He also served for five years as the Honorary Consul General for the Philippines.
Wyatt has always cared about people and their well-being and is dedicated to the advancement of biomedical research. He presently serves as a board member and Secretary-Treasurer of The DeBakey Medical Foundation. He also never lost his love of flight and now serves on the Board of Stewards of the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. Oscar Wyatt and his wife Lynn give generously to worthy charities around the world, including Doctors Without Borders, the Princess Grace Foundation, the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, Star of Hope Mission, Methodist Hospital, M. D. Anderson Hospital, and St. Luke's Hospital.
[edit] Oil for Food Scandal
The trial now underway in New York of 83-year-old Oscar Wyatt, the founder of Houston's Coastal Corp. Wyatt stands accused of complying with a demand from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to pay surcharges on oil exported from Iraq in connection with the United Nations "Oil for Food" program. This program, in effect from 1995-2003, allowed Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and related items. It was designed to provide Iraqi citizens with living necessities without allowing Saddam Hussein to rebuild his military. Throughout its existence, critics accused U.N. officials and others of helping to unlawfully divert oil-for-food revenues to the Iraqi government. These payments occurred on a massive scale: a 2005 report from a commission headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker concluded that approximately 2,000 firms paid bribes and surcharges. As a result, the Iraqi government received an estimated US$1.8 billion in "illegal"—non-U.N. approved—revenues. Very few of the firms 2,000 executives have been indicted for as much as petty larceny. Oscar Wyatt is by far the highest-profile defendant yet to be placed on trial. Now, the Bush administration is determined to put Wyatt in prison for the remainder of his life for doing what thousands of other executives are alleged to have done, without having been prosecuted. And they're pulling out all the stops to do it.
[edit] Personal Life
Wyatt has been married to socialite Lynn Wyatt since 1963 and has four children. Wyatt and his wife resided in the Houston neighborhood of River Oaks. Wyatt is currently prisoner at a Federal prison in his hometown of Beaumont stemming from his Iraqi-Oil-for-Food bribery conviction. >>>>>>>
