Downward reserve revisions have made the news headlines recently.  Those downward revisions have had a significant impact on shareholder value.  What may be less widely known is that some of these revisions are a result of recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) staff interpretations of the SEC reserve definitions.  These interpretations may cause reserves estimated under SEC definitions and guidelines to differ significantly from reserves estimated under the widely used Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc. (SPE) definitions and guidelines.

Mr. Pearson will use Russian reserve estimates as examples of the differences between SEC reserve estimates and SPE estimates.  He will also discuss some of the work being undertaken by operators to allow larger bookings of SEC reserve estimates.