Under this logic Charlie Batch is getting in the Hall of Fame

Bush visits for hall induction
BY GEOFF FOLSOM/Odessa American

The 2009 inductions to the Petroleum Museum Hall of Fame had a presidential flavor Thursday.

Former President George W. Bush was among four inductees honored at a reception at the Midland Center.

Spokesman Rob Saliterman said Bush was excited about the induction. The ceremony was closed to the media.

"President Bush is honored to receive this recognition and glad to be back in Midland-Odessa," Saliterman said.

After receiving a master' in business administration from Harvard Business School, Bush returned to Midland, his boyhood hometown. He started Arbusto Energy, which later merged with Spectrum Energy.

Hall of Fame eh? For running a failed oil company? Can Vince McMahon get into the Football Hall of Fame? I mean the XFL did last one year. Not too shabby. Here's the tale of Arbusto Energy which is seemingly the only qualification Bush has for getting in.

Arbusto Energy was a petroleum and energy company formed in Midland, Texas, in 1977, by former US President George W. Bush and a group of investors.

In 1982, Arbusto became known as Bush Exploration, a year after George H. W. Bush became Vice President. A friend of the Bush family, Philip Uzielli, invested $1 million in 1982 in exchange for a 10% stake in the company, at a time when the whole company was valued at less than $400,000. As it neared financial collapse again in September 1984, Bush Exploration merged with Spectrum 7 Energy Corp., a company owned by William DeWitt and Mercer Reynolds. Bush became Chairman and CEO of Spectrum 7.

In 1985 Spectrum 7 reported a net loss of $1.5 million and was bought in 1986 for $2.2 million by Harken Energy, with Bush joining the Harken board of directors and finance audit committee.

In 1987 the Saudi investor Abdullah Taha Bakhsh bought most of Union Bank of Switzerland's shares in Harken becoming its third largest investor owning 17% of the company. He was represented on the board by Talat M. Othman. Another investor was Ghaith R. Pharaon, a partner of Bakhsh's, who would later be involved in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, and is currently the target of an international dragnet.

In January 1990 with the company in the same state as its previous incarnations, it was awarded a contract to drill for crude oil off the coast of Bahrain, a move that shocked industry insiders as Harken had no previous experience outside of the US or of drilling offshore.

In June 1990 Bush sold more than half of his shares in Harken to a Los Angeles broker named Ralph D. Smith. One week after the sale Harken announced an overall loss of $23.2 million triggering an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into the sale.

Ridiculous.