exploration segment of the industry remains somewhat lethargic
Date: Sunday, December 26 @ 17:43:53 PST
Topic: Business News; Market Research
Major exploration efforts are essential to identify badly needed new reserves. Yet the exploration segment of the industry remains somewhat lethargic -- for a number of reasons.
It's a bottom-line thing, according to Burbach, who cautioned the audience not to fall into the "90-day report card" trap, referring to Wall Street's unrealistic demand for specific growth numbers from the E&P companies every three-months.
Other, yet related, issues he cited for stalling exploration efforts include:
* Fear of loss of investor confidence.
* Fear of downgrading by analysts.
* Industry-wide beliefs that acquisitions are better (safer?) targets.
* Capitalized effects of front-end cost G&G items to company's bottom line.
A Hungry Market
"Right now, it seems the industry has forgotten about making discoveries and is focusing its efforts on anything but exploration," said John Seitz, co-chief executive officer and director of Endeavour International Corp.,
http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2004/12dec/industry.cfm
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