The House of Getty by Russell Miller

Author:Russell Miller [Miller, Russell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General, Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9781448203765
Google: FomjnxNjKK4C
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-09-28T23:55:57.650263+00:00

J. Paul Getty followed developments in the Middle East with consuming interest and more than a twinge of frustration. In 1932 he had been offered the chance of a concession in Iraq, but had turned it down. It was a mistake he would never repeat and never forgot. Even when he was an old man, whenever he was asked by journalists if he had ever made any mistakes in his career he would always recall, with a rare wolfish smile, what he liked to describe as his ‘classic boner’.

It was the fabulous strike at Baba Gurgur in 1927 that had originally stirred his interest in Iraq. All the geological surveys of the area and test-drilling by European prospectors indicated the presence of vast petroleum deposits under the sand of the Mesopotamian desert. ‘I thought then it would be an excellent idea to get in on the ground floor,’ he said, ‘and I appointed a representative in Baghdad to negotiate an exploration and drilling concession with Iraqi officials.’

Early in 1932 he received a message from Baghdad that a potentially lucrative concession would shortly be available. ‘The initial cost would have been minimal,’ Getty confessed, ‘a matter of some tens of thousands of dollars.’ But at that moment, Paul suffered an uncharacteristic crisis of confidence. Several factors were involved. One of them was a sudden break in US crude prices following the opening up of huge oilfields in east Texas. American crude was selling for ten cents a barrel and less and the industry was thrown into a temporary panic. More importantly, the tempting prospect of acquiring Tide Water had appeared on the distant horizon and he was already deeply involved in tussles with his mother and the other Getty directors over the question of buying stock.

I should have jumped at the chance and grabbed the concession – but I didn’t. Much of my capital was tied up in Pacific Western stock and in other ventures. I hesitated to risk large capital outlays on operations in the Middle East; I was afraid I would be spreading my resources too thinly. After debating the question with myself for several weeks, I decided against the Middle Eastern venture and instructed my agent in Baghdad to break off negotiations. My decision was a classic boner, one that I would rue and regret in the years that followed. I allowed a fantastically valuable concession to slip out of my hands even though it was being offered at a comparatively negligible price.

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