Richard Paniguian

Sir Richard Leon Paniguian (26 July 1949 – 25 June 2017) was a British oil industry executive with close ties to British intelligence.

Paniguian held multiple senior roles with BP and was a project manager in some of its most challenging territories.

Early life and education Paniguian was born on 28 July 1949 and grew up with his sister Helen in South Kensington, London. His father, Hracia, known to friends as 'Pan', came from a Constantinople family of Armenian origin. Hracia served with the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War before pursuing a career in advertising.

Career 1971–1980 After university he joined BP in 1971 as a graduate trainee in the oil trading division, and spent the first years of his career in Oman and then Dubai.

Paniguian's tenure at UKTI DSO coincided with efforts by the British government to expand defence exports to Libya following the lifting of international sanctions. In a May 2009 speech, he cited Libya among countries where "high-level political interventions" had supported British arms sales. He retired from the DSO in February 2015 and became chairman of C5 Holdings, a European based private equity fund specializing in cyber and big data technologies. He joined the board of Raytheon the following year.

He died suddenly on 25 June 2017 of a heart attack.