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Show usiness & ri mance THURSDAY, FEB. 19, 1970 Part III 1 1 American Lands Huge Indonesian Oil Lease BY LESLIE HAYNES Exdmiva t* T M TIITM* from Rtuteri L O N D O N - Wendell Phillips, Honolulu - based oil millionaire who once sold newspapers on a street corner, disclosed here Wednesday details of a multi-million dollar oil partnership he made with Indonesia. The agreement with the Indonesian State Oil Corp. Pertamina gives him exclusive exploration and exploitation rights for 30 years over about 12.500 square miles of seabed and jungle in the Northern part of West Irian in N e w Guinea. Some years ago test wells drilled in the area showed encouraging signs of oil, but the concession, then held by the Anglo- Dutch Shell Group, was relinquished for political reasons, not because of its oil possibilities. Willing to Share Phillips told a news conference he is prepared to make cooperative agreements with major oil companies to exploit the Indonesian project. H e said he would meet in N e w York shortly with « gome American c o m p a nies. H e already has had offers from British, French, West G e r m a n, Italian and Japanese companies, he said. "Some of the best oil areas of the world have been abandoned by companies and then exploited with success by others," Phillips said. "It was because of its geological structure that we went after the area." Phillips Is well known for his work as an explorer and archeologist. No Final Assessment "We have not yet made a final assessment of the oil deposits in West Irian but we are hoping for a multi-million barrel field-certainly the geology is encouraging," he said. Phillips, one of the world's largest individual oil concessionaires, said the contract was won through international tender in the face of intense competition from many of the major oil companies of the world. He said he has already set up a management office in Jakarta and has been inundated with offers of technical assistance, many from British companies. The financial arrangements for the Pertamina contract provide for a share of the profits, with Pertamina initially getting 65r'0 and Phillips 35%. In addition, Phillips said he has paid $500,000 for technical information, and if oil production reaches 50,000 barrels a day he will make a bonus payment of $1 million, then another SI million at 75,- 000 barrels and $2 million if daily production reaches 100.000. He said he also is committed to spending $17.5 million on the project over the next eight years, and he has also undertaken to consider building hospitals, schools and a social welfare center for Indonesian workers and their families. At his news conference from his side the terms were not as generous as those often obtained in oil deals. But this did not appear to worry him. H e said making money was not the main objective in life - he intended giving all his away before he dies- what really mattered was helping other people. Unorthodox Approach "My approach may be unorthodox but it works " said the 48-year-old millionaire, who between controlling world - wide oil concessions producing a million barrels of oil a day, is still a working professor of archeology at Wyoming University. He also commutes between his homes in Honolulu and a hotel suite in London. Phillips has no company but controls all his concessions as an individual. H e said he has no tankers at present but had been discussing ships in Holland and Japan and it was possible that in the near future he would have a fleet of his own-"nine or 10 vessels of over 200,000 tons each would be a nice round number." He admitted he was not a business wizard and relied on a group of his key men for guidance. "Shipping is a business of its own and I have enough to do finishing a book on Jesus Christ (he has already written three books on Middle East history) without setting up as another Aristotle Onassis." At the end of his news conference he announced that he was looking for other areas in Indonesia j where he could search for more oiL j |