Sir Richard Paniguian: BP executive who worked with the Intelligence services and helped to release the 'Lockerbie bomber'

As an oil industry executive turned spy, Sir Richard Paniguian helped to negotiate the release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the former head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines, who had been convicted in 2001 of organising the bombing of the Pan Am plane that exploded over Lockerbie in 1988, killing 270 people.

Megrahi was released in 2009 after widespread criticism of his conviction. While the British government denied any involvement in Megrahi's release, confidential documents suggest that it was prompted by pressure from the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in return for BP oil contracts and counterterrorism assistance.

BP admitted pushing for a prisoner transfer deal. The month after Megrahi returned home, Paniguian gave a speech in which he said that "high-level political interventions" had enhanced the prospect of arms sales to Libya.

A trim, fit figure, he dressed formally and was fond of wearing a trilby hat, which he would tip to women in a gesture of courtesy. He would entertain old school friends to lunch at Brooks's Club in St James's in London, where he alluded to what one of them referred to as "the absurdities of his life".

Born in 1949, he grew up in an unusual household. As a boy, Richard Paniguian and his elder sister, Helen, were under stricter instructions than most children to behave when visitors called. Their father, Hracia, was a leading figure in British intelligence and an expert in psychological warfare. He had been born in Constantinople; the family name was of Armenian origin. Their home in South Kensington, within easy reach of several embassies, was a discreet meeting place for Hracia's French, north African, Greek and Middle Eastern contacts during and after the Second World War.

Richard attended the Hampshire prep school in Chelsea, and then Highfield, before going to Westminster School. Given his background, it seemed natural for him to read Arabic at Durham University and go on to have a distinguished 37-year career at BP, an international company with activities in sensitive parts of the world.

He also obtained an MBA at Insead, the French business school, and began as a graduate trainee with BP's trading division in Oman and Dubai. Paniguian went on to be vice-president of international oil trading in New York, head of capital markets in London, president of BP Turkey, and chief executive of BP's Tanker Shipping Company.

Paniguian played a leading role in the extremely political TNK-BP joint venture in Moscow to operate one of the world's biggest oil companies. He helped to create the 1,000-mile Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean and drove BP exploration in Libya, Egypt, Oman and Angola.

In 2008 he left BP to head the UK's new Defence & Security Organisation (DSO), set up to promote arms exports. While he was officially part of UK Trade and Investment (now the Department for International Trade), he reported to the Ministry of Defence. Paniguian was well placed to deal with Libyan requests for arms, security systems and SAS training.

A year later the DSO invited Khamis Gaddafi, one of Muammar's sons, to the Defence and Security Exhibition in London. The next year Paniguian arranged for Khamis to attend the annual British embassy party in Tripoli marking the Queen's birthday.

By then Paniguian was well used to being in sensitive parts of the world. He was BP's commercial representative in Iran at the time of the fall of the Shah. He added a luxuriant moustache to his swarthy complexion so that he could walk Tehran's streets inconspicuously.

He was fond of wearing a trilby hat, which he would tip to women

A gifted linguist, Paniguian also spoke French, Russian and Turkish. In 1991 he married Nil Okan Kapanci, whom he met in Turkey. She became a language trainer at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The couple moved into Paniguian's family home, where the walls were decorated with paintings by his mother, Mary. His parents had met in the Foreign Office. He and Nil, who survives him, had no children together.

Paniguian's work in defence and security earned him a knighthood two years ago. He was awarded a CBE in 2007 for services to UK business. In 2015 he left Whitehall to be chairman of C5 Capital, a Savile Row investment manager that advises technology companies operating in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Andre Pienaar, C5's founder and friend of Liam Fox, a former defence secretary, said that Paniguian "was instrumental in pioneering the development of the UK as a global centre of excellence for cybersecurity, and he played a key part in building it into the £3 billion market it is today".

Paniguian's colleagues there included Sir Iain Lobban, former director of GCHQ, Lieutenant-General Sir Graeme Lamb, the former deputy commander of the multinational task force in Iraq, Admiral Michael Mullen, former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a 20-year SAS veteran who is now private secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. He was also an adviser to WS Atkins, a global engineering consultancy with close connections to the US army and the International Atomic Energy Association.

Paniguian was brought up within walking distance of the Natural History, Victoria & Albert and Science museums and the Royal Albert Hall, and often went boating with friends on Regents Park lake. He was also a keen cricketer who started a short-lived club, the Bounders, and was for many years a member of MCC.

His oldest friend, Peter Anwyl-Harris, said: "Richard was very discreet, but he was undoubtedly close to key decisions in some of the world's hotspots. His death was a real shock – we were due to have lunch the next day."Sir Richard Paniguian, CBE, oil industry executive and security chief, was born on July 28, 1949. He died of a heart attack on June 25, 2017 aged 67.