During the past 2 years there has been a lot of publicity regarding reserves writedowns and concerns about the reliability of reserves disclosures. Reserves are an important part of everyday life in the energy industry. Beginning with Enron, the recent major reserves writedowns and the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by the United States Congress in 2002, not to mention investor confidence in our oil and gas industry, the time has come to explore the establishment of a certification program for both petroleum geoscience and engineering reserves evaluators. An exploratory intersociety committee has been formed by the American Associations of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and the Society of Petroleum Engineering Evaluators (SPEE) to evaluate establishing a voluntary program for the Certification of Petroleum Reserves Evaluators. The intent of a certification program is to improve the industry reserves estimation process and the ultimate reserves numbers. It has the potential to provide the financial community with a greater confidence in the estimates of oil and gas reserves and the opportunity to develop better standards in both reserves estimation and disclosure.

End_of_Record - Last_Page 37---------------