Did the Hedberg conference last fall reach a consensus about reserves and resources?
There was no official consensus estimate for anything: discoveries, future potential discoveries, proved reserves, etc. We discussed and debated these and many other factors about supply, but we made no effort to reach a consensus and we didn’t reach one. This is in contrast to the comments Ray Leonard made at the ASPO-6 conference about findings at the Hedberg conference. We didn’t focus so much on who was right but more on why the estimates of undiscovered resources differ. We explored these differences in great detail. For example. consider Brazil. Petrobras had much lower undiscovered resource estimates than the USGS for their offshore basins. But Petrobras was only evaluating the oil above the salt layer, while the USGS was evaluating the amount both above and below the salt layer. Following a few subsequent discoveries, Petrobras is now more enthusiastic about their subsalt potential. Q: How did the US Energy Information Administration respond to your presentations about the Hedb
