# Zapata Petroleum Zapata Petroleum was the **Texas oil venture through which [[George H.W. Bush]] made his independent fortune** in the 1950s, marking the [[Bush Family]]'s pivot from the Eastern establishment to the Sunbelt. Co-founded in 1953 (its offshore-drilling arm, Zapata Offshore, spun off in 1959), the company gave the future president his business base in Houston and the Texas political identity on which his electoral career was built. Zapata is periodically invoked in CIA-related conspiracy literature, though such claims are unverified. > Stub — expand with founding partners, the offshore-drilling pivot, and its role launching George H.W. Bush's Texas career. ## See Also - [[Bush Family]] - [[George H.W. Bush]]