A 2004 report by chief US weapons inspector Charles Duelfer found that American companies and individuals had received crude oil allocations from Saddam Hussein's government under the United Nations oil-for-food program.
Chevron, Mobil, Texaco, Bay Oil, and three private Americans, including businessman Oscar S. Wyatt Jr., were collectively allotted 111 million barrels of Iraqi crude, per copies of the report seen by The New York Times. Company representatives characterized the transactions as lawful but confirmed receiving federal grand jury subpoenas. The US Treasury Department also investigated whether they had obtained proper authorization before bidding on program contracts.
The published Duelfer report omitted American names under privacy law; those names appeared only in copies sent to Congress and the White House.
Duelfer's team found that Iraqi intelligence had worked to cultivate influential figures in France and Russia, both permanent UN Security Council members. Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua received export vouchers covering nearly 11 million barrels. Iraqi records indicated payments to businessman Patrick Maugein, whom Baghdad believed had access to President Jacques Chirac.
The oil-for-food program ran from 1996 and allowed limited, supervised Iraqi oil sales, with proceeds earmarked for food and medicine during the UN embargo that followed Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in October 2004, in its own words.