Oil and Honor

Texas-based Pennzoil Company in 1984 achieved what was thought to be a binding agreement to acquire multibillion dollar, oil-in-the-ground assets left by J. Paul Getty to his heirs and the Getty Oil Co., only to learn hours later that New York-based Texaco had beaten them out. The ensuing legal battle, in which Pennzoil initially won an unprecedented $10.3 billion judgment, is vividly detailed here in a thriller-style chronicle by a Houston staffer for the Wall Street Journal. Petzinger's financial, juridical and cultural saga pits North against South, East vs. West, handshake-honor wildcatter against Wall Streeters, with Getty heirs stirring confusion and lawyers slugging it out in a court struggle that still goes on. (Texaco has requested a new trial.) A must for the oil industry and stock-market crowd and a highly instructive entertainment for everyone else. First serial to the Wall Street Journal. (June 12)