Roger Tamraz
Roger Edward Tamraz | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1940 Cairo, Egypt |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, venture capital specialist |
| Known for | Chairman of NetOil; involvement in oil and gas sectors; restructuring Lebanon’s Intra Bank; founding Tamoil Corporation |
Roger Edward Tamraz (Arabic: روجيه تمرز) is a global financier and venture capital specialist with extensive involvement in the oil and gas sectors throughout Europe, Asia, and North America since the 1960s. He serves as the billionaire chairman of NetOil, an energy company headquartered in Dubai.
Tamraz's life and career are chronicled in the book See No Evil, which loosely inspired the film Syriana.
Early life and education
Born in 1940 in Cairo, Egypt, into an Assyrian family originally from Lebanon with ancestral ties to Syria’s Jazira region and Mosul in Iraq, Tamraz was raised speaking English, French, and Arabic fluently. His education began at the English School in Cairo, followed by studies at the American University in Cairo. He pursued doctoral studies at Cambridge University and furthered his education at INSEAD in France. In 1966, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, joining a cohort that included future prominent figures in politics and business.
Tamraz contributed to the American University in Cairo as a member of its Board of Trustees, where he established scholarships to support talented Egyptian students. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1989.
International finance, oil, and gas
Tamraz’s initial significant achievement occurred in 1967 during his tenure at Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he orchestrated the restructuring of Lebanon’s failed Intra Bank. Established in Beirut in 1951, Intra Bank collapsed in 1966, triggering a major economic crisis across the Middle East due to its commanding market position—holding 15% of total bank deposits and controlling numerous affiliated companies and banks. Tamraz developed the “Kidder Peabody Plan,” which converted depositor claims into shares within the newly formed Intra Investment Company (IIC), financially supported by Lebanese, Kuwaiti, Qatari, and U.S. governments. IIC maintained substantial holdings in entities such as Middle East Airlines—where Tamraz was Vice Chairman—Casino du Liban, and Bank Al Mashreq. Kidder Peabody continued advising IIC until 1973.
Following his departure from Intra Bank in the early 1970s, Tamraz broadened his investment banking operations throughout the Middle East by leveraging his linguistic skills and East-West connections. During the 1980s, he developed close relationships with Lebanese President Amine Gemayel to further his business interests.
He was instrumental in reorganizing Gulf Fisheries on behalf of Kuwait’s government and upgraded Egypt Air’s fleet by introducing Boeing aircraft. In the early 1970s, Tamraz acquired France’s second-largest shipbuilding yard specializing in LNG carriers, military vessels, VLCCs, and bulk cargo ships.
During this decade, he conceived and financed Egypt’s Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) Pipeline—a vital oil transport corridor parallel to the blocked Suez Canal. Launched in 1978 with an initial capacity of , it was subsequently expanded to . Concurrently, he developed what became the world’s largest methanol production facility located in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, partnering with Japan’s Itochu Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. This venture included a major crude oil supply agreement to Japan amid the 1973 oil crisis.
In 1976, Tamraz entered the U.S. banking sector by acquiring Michigan’s Bank of the Commonwealth, which operated 50 branches. He grew this institution until its merger into Comerica in 1983, becoming its largest shareholder before selling his stake to finance his purchase of Tamoil. Today, Comerica holds assets totaling $64 billion with a market capitalization of $5.6 billion.
By the early 1980s, Tamraz owned Paris’s Meurice Hotel Group—including Hôtel Meurice, Hôtel Prince de Galles, Grand Hotels, and Café de la Paix—accounting for one-quarter of Paris’s luxury hotel accommodations. These properties were sold to Grand Metropolitan Hotel Corporation during the mid-1980s.
Amidst the Lebanese Civil War (1986-87), Tamraz contributed to constructing an airport facility in Halat.
In the 1980s, he founded Tamoil Corporation in Europe by acquiring Italian assets from Amoco and Texaco. This enterprise expanded to encompass approximately 3,000 service stations alongside three refineries and pipeline infrastructure with refining capacity reaching per day. Presently, Tamoil reports annual revenues of $20 billion with a market value of $6.3 billion.
Following the Soviet Union’s collapse in the early 1990s, Tamraz initiated the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline project designed to transport Caspian oil to Mediterranean markets. He secured essential agreements with Turkmenistan's President Niyazov, Azerbaijan's President Heydar Aliyev, Turkey's Prime Minister Tansu Çiller, and Turkey's state pipeline company Botas. The transit rights agreement with Turkey was crucial; subsequently BP completed construction after acquiring Amoco.
Tamraz also obtained equity stakes in Turkmenistan’s Blocks I and II—significant oil and gas fields containing reserves of gas and oil that produce two billion cubic feet of natural gas daily.
His Netoil group has been involved in discussions aimed at reacquiring Tamoil assets from Libya.
Congressional testimony and pipeline advocacy
During 1997-1998, Tamraz took part in United States congressional hearings addressing campaign finance following his $300,000 contribution to Bill Clinton’s campaign, which he admitted was aimed at securing enhanced access. He is said to have proposed to the White House a pipeline initiative designed to traverse Armenia, Turkey, and the contested Nagorno-Karabakh area within Azerbaijan, but encountered resistance from Heydar Aliyev.
Allegations of fraud and misappropriation
In 1997, Tamraz was apprehended in the Republic of Georgia under an INTERPOL notice accusing him of embezzling $200 million connected to the 1989 failure of Lebanon's Al Mashreq Bank. Despite this warrant, he was neither extradited nor held by US authorities and maintained his ability to travel internationally. That same year, French authorities brought charges against him for "bank fraud, conflict of interest, and breach of trust." Tamraz rejected all accusations, contending they were driven by Lebanese political agendas and stated he had been cleared by an auditor appointed by a Lebanese court as well as by C.I.A. operatives.
External links
- Alumni of the University of Cambridge
- American businesspeople
- American people of Lebanese descent
- The American University in Cairo alumni
- Harvard Business School alumni
- 1940 births
- Living people
- American people of Assyrian descent
- Egyptian expatriates in the United Kingdom
- Egyptian emigrants to the United States
- Egyptian expatriates in France
- Lebanese people of Syrian descent
- Syrian billionaires
- Syrian businesspeople
- American people of Syrian descent