Oil: Vade, Mecom

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The complicated and expensive requirements of today's oil exploration—basically, more distant searches and 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."

A University of Oklahoma graduate who studied geology and petroleum engineering, Mecom keeps twelve geologists and three geophysicists at work in his search, makes all the final decisions himself. He maintains a fleet of 27 airplanes and a private navy that includes a converted LST, three oceangoing tugs and a 5,000-ton freighter named Little John. Mecom lives with his wife and two daughters (he also has a married son) in a Frenchlike chateau in Houston, owns three cattle ranches and a private zoo of lions, zebras, gazelles and camels. A man who hardly hesitates before he plows $120 million into a Colombian oilfield, he is also known in hotels and restaurants on four continents as a lavish spender and tipper.

Hedged Bets. In spite of his spectacular spending and steady success in the oilfields, Mecom is conservative enough to hedge his bets with other investments. He bought half of the new San Francisco Hilton for $14.5 million, has spent another $10.4 million on the Warwick Hotel in Houston, owns the 425-room Gran Hotel Bolivar in Lima, Peru. He also controls a New Jersey company that turns out the fast-selling Boonton plastic tableware. Another holding: Houston's Reed Roller Bit Co., which Mecom hopes eventually to make into an oil-equipment supply company rivaling the Hughes Tool Co. Most of all, however, Mecom intends to remain a freewheeling, fast-moving independent oilman. "I'm not selling anything,^ he says. "I'll just keep looking for oil."