Benedum Drills Again

Rough, rich, resourceful Michael L. Benedum, the world's No. 1 wildcatter, now aged 72, is hard at it again. In West Virginia last week his fast-moving agents got the last signature on oil leases sewing up 200,000 hilly acres, bordering 35 miles of the Ohio River southward from Sistersville.

To oilmen this move is something worth watching, for Mike Benedum is the luckiest wildcatter ever. With a $500 grubstake and more nerve than a circus trapezist, he got into the oil business in the '90s. In no time at all he made a killing in West Virginia oil, discovered the then huge Crawford Field in Illinois, lost most of his cash in Oklahoma mud. Then he whipped off again, struck the fabulous Caddo pool in Louisiana, moved on to drill in Mexico, Venezuela, Canada, Europe. Most spectacular was his discovery of the great Texas Yates pool, only 16 years ago. Although he owns about one-third of the $13,000,000 Plymouth Oil Co., has a large interest in tens of other companies, he always stayed an independent, was rarely listed as an officer or director. But he profited. His fortune is estimated at around $70,000,000.

Now Mike is back in West Virginia, only a short distance from where he started. He figures that in the 6,000-ft.-deep, never-prospected Oriskany sands there is oil aplenty. Already he and his sidekicks have spent $500,000; his No. 1 well at Falls Mills is down 5,100 feet, three others are going down fast. If Mike strikes oil it may mean another West Virginia oil boom, more cash in Benedum bank accounts. But Mike is after more than money: a big strike in West Virginia would benefit the whole Atlantic seaboard, would be the best possible way of easing the East Coast oil shortage.

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