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• A geologist decides if the sedimentary rock at the potential drill location possesses good porosity, permeability and possible petroleum accumulation.

• Prior to any drilling, numerous legal matters must be settled, such as getting a drilling permit, surveying of the drill site and obtaining an oil and gas lease.

• Financial arrangements are made with the surface owner for access to his property, and he is usually compensated for the use of his acreage while drilling is in progress.

• If the well does in fact produce oil, the oil company will require access and lease of the land for an extended period of time, possibly several years.

• Once the site has been selected, a contractor will bring in equipment to prepare the location and set up the large drilling rig.

• There is no way to estimate the amount of revenue that a well will produce.

• The costs of the exploration process are high; obtaining the mineral rights and land access, renting drilling rigs, and completing the well through fracture stimulation, among other things, force the companies to spend more than they make during the early drilling process.

• With oil prices at record highs, companies could be poised to make fortunes. A good well can produce several hundred barrels a day, which at current prices could mean millions of dollars every year and several hundred millions over the life of the well. If successful in finding large deposits of oil within a field, small independent oil companies may sell the right to drill the rest of the field to a large oil corporation.