32 Facts About Torkild Rieber

Torkild Rieber was a Norwegian immigrant to the United States who became chairman of the Texas Company.

Torkild Rieber rose steadily through the ranks to become chairman in 1935.

Torkild Rieber was sympathetic to the fascist regimes in Europe in the 1930s and illegally supplied oil on credit to Francisco Franco's forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Torkild Rieber purchased tankers from Germany in exchange for oil.

When Torkild Rieber's ties to the Nazis were revealed in August 1940 by British agents in the United States, there was a scandal and he was forced to resign.

Iran nationalized British oil holdings in 1951, but following the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat that restored the Shah to power, Torkild Rieber negotiated an end to the dispute.

Torkild Rieber was born in Voss, Norway, on March 13,1882, son of the owner of a dye works in a small town about 60 miles from Bergen.

Torkild Rieber's family was Lutheran, and he was brought up in an environment where alcohol, dancing and gambling were strictly forbidden.

At the age of 15 Torkild Rieber left home and joined the full-rigged sailing ship Hiawatha on a six-month voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco.

Torkild Rieber's tanker was bought by the three-year-old Texaco in 1905.

Torkild Rieber struggled to get organized, and in 1927 Rieber accepted an offer to return to Texaco as vice president in charge of exports and marine transportation.

Torkild Rieber acquired a fleet of new tankers and opened up markets around the world for Texaco.

Torkild Rieber featured on the cover of Time magazine on 4 May 1936.

Torkild Rieber wanted other sources of supply in case the United States banned exports to one or all of Texaco's foreign customers.

In 1936 Torkild Rieber bought the Barco oil concession in Colombia from Gulf Oil for $14,550,000, and sold a half interest to Socony-Vacuum, now Mobil.

Torkild Rieber made an agreement for joint production with the new California-Texas Oil Company, which took over Texaco's far eastern market.

In common with many other business leaders, Torkild Rieber admired the efficiency of the fascist movements in Europe.

Under the January 1937 Neutrality Act, it was illegal to provide credit to either side; Torkild Rieber met General Francisco Franco in August 1936 and agreed to supply the Nationalists with oil on credit until the war ended.

In June 1937, President Franklin D Roosevelt met Rieber and threatened to embargo future shipments.

Torkild Rieber directed his associate at the Paris Texaco office, William M Brewster, to relay to the Nationalists intelligence on the Spanish Loyalists, such as fuel amounts, cost, and type.

In 1936, Torkild Rieber commissioned several oil tankers from the Deutsche Werft shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, in return for oil.

Torkild Rieber flew to Berlin to negotiate with the German naval officials.

Torkild Rieber was successful, and Admiral Erich Raeder allowed the tanker to sail under the flag of Panama to ship oil to neutral countries.

Torkild Rieber continued to ship Colombian oil to Germany, despite the British embargo.

Torkild Rieber met Field Marshal Hermann Goring in 1940 and was given a message from Adolf Hitler to President Roosevelt, inviting him to support Berlin's plan for a European Union, led by Germany, which would open its doors to the United States.

Torkild Rieber talked with the German agent Gerhardt Alois Westrick, who was gathering information about American armaments and intentions concerning the European war.

Torkild Rieber became president of the independent Barber Oil Company after he left Texaco.

The World Bank assigned Torkild Rieber to assist Hector Prud'homme in examining the oil installations in Iran.

In February 1952 Torkild Rieber was part of a larger World Bank mission sent to negotiate an arrangement for restarting oil production pending agreement with the British over ownership of the assets.

Torkild Rieber became adviser to the new Iranian government, and assisted them in their negotiations in 1954 with a consortium of Standard Oil of New Jersey, Royal Dutch Shell and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

In 1963 Torkild Rieber attended a fortieth anniversary celebration of Time magazine hosted by the publisher Henry Luce at the Waldorf Astoria, attended by many of the people that had been featured on the magazine's cover over the years.

Torkild Rieber died in Manhattan on August 10,1968, aged 86.