@242, these kinds numbers and their ilk are usually unrisked...

@242, these kinds numbers and their ilk are usually unrisked resources (or something similar). It means that on some sparse data you calculate all of the hydrocarbons possibly in the rocks in the basin. They bear no resemblance whatsoever to hydrocarbons which could possibly be recovered using known techniques and even less resemblance to hydrocarbons which may be recovered for a profit.

Small exploration co's put out these numbers with disgusting regularity and they have no little purpose other than to get investors who don't know any better to buy stock.

There is a far greater likelihood of me eating all of the rocks containing the supposed 6 billion boe than for any company that you would like to name making a profit from extracting that volume of hydrocarbons from them. Here I include companies with massive capital resources at their disposal - quite unlike Central.

I wrote similar words about Empire when they released their 9 TCF "independent expert's report" a year or so ago. The sad thing is that reporting ridiculous numbers like these is allowed at all.