A plan is outlined for calculating the industry's cost of finding oil in an area. This is possible by an exhaustive examination of published data from which finding expenditures are calculated. Total dollar expenditures are related to barrels found. Barrels found are current reserve estimates of reservoirs discovered, corrected for future revisions and secondary recovery changes.

Comparisons of finding costs are made for three areas covering most of the interior United States. The areas are Kansas and Oklahoma, the Illinois-Michigan basin area, and the Rocky Mountains.

In the period 1942 through 1957, the cost of the average barrel found in the Rocky Mountains was $0.41. This is comparable with $0.57 and $0.70 per net barrel for Kansas-Oklahoma and the Illinois-Michigan basin areas.

Costs of finding oil are increasing in most areas of the United States at a faster rate than development and producing costs; they are expected to increase in the future. To find more oil at less cost is the challenge to the petroleum geologist.

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