Word: mecom
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...deeper drilling with more sophisticated equipment-have shut out most of the old breed of independent operators. A few independents, however, are still rich and ready enough for global competition with the major companies-and one of the richest and readiest is a stocky, straightforward Texan named John Whitfield Mecom. At 53, Mecom has amassed assets of between $400 million and $500 million, reaped largely from 30 years of roaming the world in search of oil. Last week, on yet another search, he started drilling in Jordan, one of the few Arab nations where oil has not been found...
Drill a Little Deeper. Understandably eager for oil, little Jordan celebrated the spudding in of Mecom's first well in the olive groves and rolling hills north of Hebron. Mecom was banqueted by King Hussein, in turn entertained Jordanian officials with a dinner party at the new Jerusalem Intercontinental Hotel on the Mount of Olives. The jaunty young King spilled oil ceremonially over the rig, and a dozen lambs were slaughtered and sent to the poor in a good-luck ritual...
...Mecom, who is investing $5,000,000 in the Jordan venture, is depending on a good deal more than luck, although he seems to have his share of that. In a business in which one wildcat well in nine comes in and one field in 44 pays off, Mecom has hit on three tries out of five and profited on two wells out of three. "We go into places where oil has been searched for before," he says. "We just try new methods, maybe drill a little deeper...