Adolf Henrik Lundin, (19 December 1932 – 30 September 2006), was a Swedish oil and mining entrepreneur. From the 1970s through the 1990s Lundin established numerous natural resource companies both in the mining sector and the
oil and gas sector, which in turn made a number of significant discoveries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and South America. Several of these deposits are still producing commercial quantities of oil, gas, gold, copper and other minerals; others are still under development. Lundin made a fortune in the 1970s when he came across huge
natural gas field
A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations.
Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...
s in
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
.
Biography
Early years
Adolf Lundin earned a master's degree in 1956 from the
Royal Institute of Technology
The KTH Royal Institute of Technology ( sv, Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, lit=Royal Institute of Technology), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technolo ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
. Between 1957 and 1960 he worked as a Petroleum Engineer for the
Royal Dutch Shell Group in South America. In 1961 he earned an
MBA
A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...
degree from the
Centre d’Etudes Industrielles in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, Switzerland. Between 1961 and 1966 he was responsible for oil exploration activities in the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
and
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
for the
Ax:son Johnson Group. In 1966, he moved with his family to Geneva to work as assistant director of the Centre d’Etudes Industrielles (which later became the International Institute for Management Development).
Adolf's brother Bertil (1946-2005) was head of the
Kontoret för Särskild Inhämtning (The Office for Special Collection). The KSI is Sweden's most secretive intelligence agency.
Career
In 1971, he started his career as an independent oil and mining entrepreneur on a global scale. His first successful venture was
Gulfstream Resources which, in 1976, co-discovered the
North Gas Field
The South Pars/North Dome field is a natural-gas condensate field located in the Persian Gulf. It is by far the world's largest natural gas field, IEA, World Energy Outlook 2008 - Chapter 12 - Natural gas resources and production prospects, p.29 ...
, offshore
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
- this field remains today as the single largest known gas accumulation in the world.
Lundin was an ardent
anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
. In the United States Lundin was involved with the
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
think tank,
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
based in Washington, D.C. (
Reagan Doctrine
The Reagan Doctrine was stated by United States President Ronald Reagan in his State of the Union address on February 6, 1985: "We must not break faith with those who are risking their lives—on every continent from Afghanistan to Nicaragua—to ...
/
Kirkpatrick Doctrine The Kirkpatrick Doctrine was the doctrine expounded by United States Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick in the early 1980s based on her 1979 essay, "Dictatorships and Double Standards".Jeane Kirkpatrick,Dictatorships and Double Stand ...
). In 1980, Lundin sponsored
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
's
election campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
. Lundin and his wife Eva were invited to the Reagan inauguration in 1981. The program included an inauguration party with
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
that the couple watched from the front row.
[''Lundin may have led Bildt to the heart of darkness''](_blank)
The Local, 22 December 2011
He founded
Lundin Mining
Lundin Mining Corporation is a Canadian company that owns and operates mines in Sweden, United States, Chile, Portugal and Brazil that produce base metals such as copper, zinc, and nickel. Headquartered in Toronto, the company was founded by Adolf ...
in 1994.
In 1998, he was named ''
International Swede of the Year
International Swede of the Year ( sv, Årets svensk i världen) is a prize awarded by the Society for expatriate Swedes (Swedish: Föreningen svenskar i världen).
Winners
*2018: Nina Stemme, opera singer
*2017: Pia Sundhage, footballer
*2016: S ...
'' by
His Majesty the King of Sweden. In 1999, Lundin Oil, made a major discovery of oil in the
Thar Jath
Thar Jath is a community in Koch County, Unity State, South Sudan.
Thar Jath was chosen as a base by the consortium that developed the Block 5A, South Sudan
Block 5A is an oil concession in South Sudan.
After oil field development began during t ...
structure in an area in Sudan (
Block 5A
Block 5A is an oil concession in South Sudan.
After oil field development began during the Second Sudanese Civil War, Block 5A was the scene of extensive fighting as rival militias struggled for control.
Out of an original population of 240,000, a ...
). In 2000, Lundin invited the former prime minister (1991-1994) and EU envoy to the Balkans (1995)
Carl Bildt
Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs ...
to join his board of directors. In 2001 Lundin founded
Lundin Petroleum
Lundin Energy (former Lundin Petroleum) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company formed from Lundin Oil in 2001 and based in Sweden with focus on operations in Norway. It is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
Lund ...
.
In 2002, he received an honorary doctorate from
Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. He became the honorary chairman of
Lundin Petroleum AB, the chairman of
Vostok Nafta Investment Ltd and a director of
North Atlantic Natural Resources AB,
Atacama Minerals Corp.,
Champion Resources Inc.,
South Atlantic Ventures Ltd,
Tenke Mining Corp. and
Valkyries Petroleum Corp.
Adolf Lundin died in 2006, aged 73, from
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
. He and his wife, Eva Wehtje, whom he married in 1957, had four children. His Lundin Group, continued by his sons
Lukas Lundin
Lukas Henrik Lundin (3 July 1958 – 26 July 2022) was a Swedish-Canadian businessman, based in Geneva, Switzerland. He was the chairman of Lundin Mining, Denison Mines, Lucara Diamond, NGEx Resources Inc, Lundin Gold Inc, the Lundin Foundation ...
and
Ian Lundin. They have invested considerable resources in rebranding the Lundin Group to make it more socially acceptable. They started a philanthropic operation, "Lundin for Africa Foundation", and proclaimed in 2007 to donate $100 million to the
Clinton Foundation
The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...
.
Lundin Group Commits $100 Million to Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative
6 Jule 2007
Books
*Adolf H. Lundin: Biography by ULF Lundin Petroleum Giraffetink
* (Business in Blood and Oil: Lundin Petroleum in Africa)
External links
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lundin, Adolf H.
1932 births
2006 deaths
Deaths from leukemia
Businesspeople from Geneva
KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni
Swedish anti-communists
20th-century Swedish businesspeople
Deaths from cancer in Switzerland
Place of birth missing
Adolf
Adolf (also spelt Adolph or Adolphe, Adolfo and when Latinised Adolphus) is a given name used in German-speaking countries, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Flanders, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and to a lesser extent in vari ...