Jack J. Grynberg

Jack J. Grynberg (born 1932) is a Denver-based oil and gas developer who has amassed a fortune in the oil and natural gas sector estimated at $300 to $500 million.

In addition to speaking six languages, he has a Masters in Petroleum Engineering and Refining from the Colorado School of Mines and is an active philanthropist.

Early life

Born in Poland, Jack Grynberg was in the second grade when the Nazis invaded Poland. As a Jew, his education was stopped by the Holocaust. He joined the resistance and by the age of 12 he was fighting in the forests of Belarus. He fought until 1945. His post World War II wanderings took him to Israel where he fought in the Israeli War of Independence in 1947 and 1948. He then moved to Colorado where he attended the Colorado School of mines, married, and began raising his three children. He would later work as a spy for the US Army in 1957 and 1958.

His first million

Grynberg made his first million by the age of 30 when he formed a company, Oceanic Exploration Co., that reworked a previously drilled gas well that had been abandoned by Amerada Hess Corporation as “noncommercial” . After reviewing and interpreting data from the area, he concluded that Amerada Hess was wrong. This reworked well lead to the discovery of the prodigious Nitchie Gulch gas field in Wyoming and made Grynberg a millionaire in 1962. From there he set out on many highly successful domestic and international oil and gas exploration programs and took the Oceanic Exploration public in 1972.

Building the empire

Grynberg was also instrumental in helping discover the Kashagan Field in Kazakhstan in the 1990s, one of the largest oil field discoveries in the last 30 years.

The Kashagan Field is estimated to hold convert|9|Goilbbl|m3 of recoverable oil and convert|25|Tcuft|km3 of natural gas. Grynberg was one of the first western oilmen to develop relations with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev before the collapse of the Soviet Union. This relationship and others provided him with access to complex and confidential data.

According to court records, it was Grynberg who provided the introductions and data for BG, BP, Statoil, Arco, Transworld Oil and others to enter the region in the late 1980s and early 1990s. When the consortium of major American oil companies fell apart, BG cut its own deal for the Karachagnak gas/condensate field and attempted to exclude Grynberg from the deal. Grynberg sued in Texas, and though much of the Texas court case is sealed, industry insiders estimate that Grynberg was awarded a 15% interest in the BG deal.

Problems

When BP attempted to exclude Grynberg from its 9.5% stake in its Kashagan stake, Grynberg sued them as well in New York including leveling a racketeering charge against then BP CEO, John Browne. The case was settled. The case was settled in arbitration with all parties sworn to secrecy, but again, industry insiders estimate that Grynberg was awarded a 15% interest.

BP and BG both sold their remaining interests in Kashagan in 2003. BG sold to the Sinopec and BP to CNOOC. The combined sales price is estimated to have been $1.23 billion, of which Grynberg may have received as much as 15% of ($185 million). This is in addition to the $90 million that Grynberg is estimated to have received with BP and Statoil previously sold part of their interests to Total for $600 million in 2001.

Grynberg is known for shrewdly defending his rights in court. According to one source, during negotiations involving the Kashagan interests, he ripped up a settlement check for $90 million and demanded appraisal and arbitration. [Plats Oilgram News, Wednesday, March 12, 2003]

Grynberg owns more than 800 oil and natural gas well wells throughout the world. He is involved in ventures in the former Soviet Union, Middle East, Africa, Far East and Latin America and holds some of the largest concessions in the world. [Wall Street Journal, October 23, 1996]

Most recently Grynberg has been focused on a Qui Tam lawsuit against the major oil companies accusing them of stealing billions of dollars in royalties from the U.S. government. [Rocky Mountain News, July 4, 2003]

References

External links

* http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5441272
* http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/06/AR2006050600905.html
* http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_5188899,00.html