Whats ExxonMobils policy on booking reserves?
I can’t speak about anyone else’s business. But we’ve had a system in place for many, many years that we think complies with rules set forth by the SEC [Securities & Exchange Commission] of what constitutes a proved reserve. The last time we looked at the system in great deal was in the early 1990s, when we put in place a system that is very, very rigorous in how you determine what reserves get booked. For instance, one thing we do is reappraise those properties that are producing every year and use the production information from the last year to determine what changes need to made in each of these fields…. We have a group that monitors all of this, and together they have 150 years of experience. Any significant changes in reserves or new bookings have to be cleared here [at ExxonMobil’s headquarters]. There are lots of checks and balances.
