per nr, page-12

To use your car example I'd say that exploration expenditure is not cost of upgrading the car, or even buying the car. I'd say it's closer to buying the bus ticket to the car yard to start browsing for cars. You're not going to produce much oil if you don't find some first. Given that they overpaid for this used car with high yield debt and are spending a lot of money keeping the motor turning over, looking at EBITDAX as the measure of profitability is of course nonsense as it ignores a huge chunk of the necessary and recurring costs. It is a great measure of how profitable it would theoretically be if they didn't have to pay interest or tax or spend any money on exploration or development.