1 sure that you really do a complete assessment based on the size of an 



2 exploratory find in order to define whether or not you have production 



3 and how you do it, is probably doable and acceptable. 



4 I can you tell you right now you'd have a hue and cry from the 



5 industry like you wouldn't believe at the suggestion that the government 



6 get into the oil business and start doing the exploration. 



7 You've probably all heard it before, but the competitive nature 



8 between the companies is very intense. Probably one of the more 



9 expensive parts of our business goes into a lot of the exploration part 



10 of the work and the geophysical work and the computer stuff. 



11 There's a difference between the companies, and how the government 



12 would handle getting into the exploration business would be very 



13 difficult. The industries would not go for that at all, and they also 



14 aren't very interested in trying to share information with each other, 



15 either. 



16 Companies can go into an area and drill 50 wells and won't find 



17 anything, they can go in and do a geophysical and won't see anything. 



18 Another company can come in and take the same geophysical 



19 information, have different ways to analyze it with a computer and see a 



20 whole different story, and in fact, there may be oil there that the 



21 other companies aren't seeing. That's why you have such weird bidding 



22 in some of these lease areas. 



23 Half the companies will say there's nothing there, the other guys 



24 will go in there and pick up all the leases, in fact, they see something 



25 different. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, it's a hit 



26 or miss anyway. 



27 Anyway, in general you'd really hear an uproar if you suggested 



28 that the government get into the oil business. 



29 MR. VILD: John, did I misrepresent what you said? Maybe I just 



30 didn't understand when you were talking about having a sort of 



31 bifurcated system there separating exploration from development. 



32 DR. TEAL: What did you say that you were worried about 



33 misrepresenting? 



154 



