Lately rumors of huge natural gas findings on the Waddenzee islands have brought other oil companies rushing in with hopes of getting a piece or prospecting offshore.

On the wind-whipped Waddenzee Islands of The Netherlands last week, battered landing craft disgorged load after load of equipment and intense men from as far away as Texas, Kuwait and Brunei. Growling Land-Rovers raced up and down sandy stretches recently surrendered by vacationing Dutchmen; helicopters whirred overhead. The invaders represented…