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Big oil's expensive black gold quest |
| Home | NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Soaring crude prices may have prompted oil companies to venture into ever hostile terrain to bring supplies to market, yet by one account all the spending may merely serve to hold production levels constant. According to a recent report from oil and gas consultancies John. S. Herold and Harrison Lovergrove & Co., investment in "upsteam" activities, which incude exploration and production, jumped 31 percent from 2004 to 2005. Yet the study, based on data provided by publicly traded oil and gas companies worldwide, said production volumes grew just 1 percent, and proven reserves in the ground remained essentially unchanged. |