beginning in 1949, getty paid ibn saud $9.5 million in cash and $1 million a year for a 60-year concession to a tract of barren land near the border of saudi arabia and kuwait. no oil had ever been discovered there. after spending $30 million over four years, oil was discovered there. from 1953 onward, getty's gamble produced a year, which contributed greatly to the fortune which made him one of the richest people in the world.