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15 Facts About Simon Kukes

1.

Simon Gregory Kukes is a Russian-born American chemist and retired oil industry businessman.

2.

Simon Kukes immigrated to the US to work in the oil industry in the late 1970s, and returned to Russia with Amoco in 1995.

3.

Simon Kukes became vice president at Yukos, president of TNK-BP from 1998 until 2003, and returned to head Yukos, replacing Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

4.

Simon Kukes is the CEO and Director of PEDEVCO Corp.

5.

Simon Kukes is the holder of more than 130 patents, primarily in Oil and Petrochemical Processing.

6.

Simon Kukes then attended Rice University in Houston, Texas where he was a Postdoctoral Fellow.

7.

Simon Kukes immigrated to the US in the late seventies, and became an American citizen, giving up his Russian passport.

8.

Simon Kukes briefly taught at Rice University, in Houston, Texas.

9.

Simon Kukes was the President and Chief Executive of Tyumen Oil Company from 1998 until it combined with British Petroleum in 2003 to create TNK-BP.

10.

Simon Kukes is the recipient of the Medal of the Ministry for Natural Resources of the Russian Federation, as well as the American Society of Competition Development Award for Leadership.

11.

Simon Kukes was a partner at Hess Corporation, a New York-based oil and gas company.

12.

From January 2005 to April 2013, Simon Kukes was the CEO at Samara-Nafta, a Russian oil company that partnered with US-based international oil company, Hess Corporation.

13.

In 2019, Simon Kukes invested in an Israeli company, GLAMZ, a platform connecting customers to local beauty service providers.

14.

In September 2017, Simon Kukes was reportedly being investigated by the Mueller special counsel investigation for alleged ties to Viktor Vekselberg.

15.

In 2000, Simon Kukes bought a four-room condominium in Trump Parc in Manhattan.