SIR JOHN PAGE was a successful oil man and then a docks company executive who did not have technical expertise in either field. He was a gregarious, easygoing man, and his skills lay in his ability to deal with a wide variety of people and in difficult circumstances.

Page was a senior figure in the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC) during the 1958 revolution and, while in Syria, was unofficial ambassador while at the same time negotiating on behalf of his company with the authorities and dealing with hardline trade unions. In a distinguished later career he helped to transform the moribund Mersey Docks and Harbour Company into a going concern and, in his seventies, ran a regional health authority.

John Joseph Joffre Page was born in 1915 in Putney, southwest London. He won a scholarship to Emanuel School, Wandsworth, where he excelled at cricket, rugby, athletics and boxing. On leaving school in 1933 he joined the RAF and was posted to an RAF armoured car unit in Iraq. His service over the next six years included peacekeeping in Palestine.

Soon after he arrived in Iraq he was appointed ADC to the AOC, which required him to ride a horse during ceremonial parades. Having never ridden a horse, he took lessons from Cynthia Swan, the daughter of an adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Finance. They were married in Baghdad in 1939.

He worked briefly for the IPC as an administrative assistant in Tripoli and Haifa, which was the terminal of the pipeline bringing Iraqi crude oil to the Mediterranean. He then rejoined the RAF on the outbreak of war, serving in Iraq, Palestine and North Africa. He was involved in RAF liaison with Field-Marshal Montgomery and was mentioned in dispatches. He left the service in 1946 with the rank of group- captain.

Page returned to IPC and was posted to Haifa, but on the formation of the state of Israel the line was closed and the terminal moved to Syria. He was then posted to Amman in Jordan and later to Baghdad, where he was appointed general manager.

He held various senior posts, including general manager in Basra, before becoming head of organisation at the headquarters in London. He was appointed OBE in 1959.

In 1961 he went to Bahrain as chief representative and general manager, being also responsible for bringing onstream a new oil field in Abu Dhabi, then a small pearling and fishing port. Initially he had to commute by air from Bahrain while suitable accommodation in Abu Dhabi was built.

Page was then appointed the IPC’s chief representative in Damascus, where he later had to negotiate with the Syrian authorities to keep the pipeline open. During a break in diplomatic relations between Damascus and London, Page acted as British representative under the protection of Switzerland, signified by the flying of a large Swiss flag outside his house.

While in Syria Page had to deal with some extremely aggressive trade unions, which was good preparation for the next stage of his career.

He retired from IPC in 1970 and two years later joined the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company as chairman. The old trust board, which had been established in the mid-19th century, had been made bankrupt by the building of docks at Seaforth.

Capital reconstruction was completed by Act of Parliament and in 1974 the operation became a limited company. Having overseen this difficult transition, Page took a more hands-on role as chief executive, laying a firm foundation for the later success and large profits. This partly involved ditching old and entrenched practices, and also upgrading Seaforth to accommodate the large container ships and bulk carriers that were replacing cargo vessels. Page had excellent government contacts that he used to great effect during the transistion out of state involvement, and he retired as chairman in 1984 with the company on a firm footing.

He was deputy chairman of the British Ports Association from 1974-77 and then chairman of the National Ports Council until 1980.

From 1981-82 he was chairman of the Chester District Health Authority and then chairman of the North Western Regional Health Authority from 1982-88. He was knighted in 1979.

Calm in the many crises in which he found himself, Page was also resolute and clear in his goals. His dry wit and likeable nature endeared him to colleagues at all levels. He was an avid cricket fan and also a regular fisherman, which led him to visit Canada and Norway. He travelled to other parts of the world, including to Abu Dhabi in 2003 for the 40th anniversary of the first export of oil from the port. He was warmly greeted by the sons and grandsons of the oil workers he had hired.

Page’s wife died in 2003. He is survived by their two sons.

Sir John Page, OBE, businessman, was born on January 7, 1915. He died on February 5, 2006, aged 91.