Drillinginfo Rolls Out New Oklahoma Oilpatch Features, Rejects Arianna's SUV Ads.

Business Editors & Energy Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 2003

Drillinginfo Inc., the Austin, Texas-based company behind the wildly popular (at least among oilmen and royalty owners) oil and gas Drillinginfo.com network, announced today the rollout of its daily Oklahoma regulatory orders, such as Spacing Exceptions and Pooling, to complement its database of leasing, permits, completions, and production information for Oklahoma, as well as issuing a defense of the U.S. oil and gas industry.

"We have now entered Oklahoma in a big way," comments Drillinginfo CEO Bill Fowler. "The cheaper and easier it is for prospect developers, operators, and mineral owners to get information in the areas they are working, the better it is for the oilpatch. We have been extremely fortunate to be working with Edmond, Okla.-based Pangaea Inc., to leverage its knowledge and abilities in Oklahoma and to have hired an incredible oil person, Debbie Jacobs, who we talked out of being a landman, imagine that, to become our account representative in Oklahoma."

"The information we provide in Oklahoma is fantastic, such as AFE drilling costs for Pooling Orders. Used in conjunction with our VirtualScout AOI Monitor, all members are notified within 24 hours of an order around any AOI they define," enthuses Drillinginfo President Mark Nibbelink.

On a different note, however, Drillinginfo's Chairman of the Board Allen Gilmer stated, "Since we mind our cash conservatively around here, and don't want to put out a separate press release, we also want to say that Arianna Huffington's ad about SUV drivers supporting terrorism in a parody of the equally ridiculous drug ads are just silly. At most, only 5.6% (8% minus 31% taxes) goes to supporting terrorism, that being the Saudi percentage. Seriously though, 31% of those gasoline dollars go towards maintaining a robust and healthy state and federal bureaucracy through direct taxes on gasoline sales. Another 2.6% goes to, hopefully, feeding schoolchildren or the like in the form of severance and ad valorem taxes on the U.S. domestic contribution to our oil needs to state and county governments. Curiously, foreign oil has a FAVORED tax status relative to domestic production, having an excise tax of only $0.10 per barrel (0.3% of your gasoline bill). The 4 million domestic mineral royalty owners (of which the U.S. government is one) take another 4% of the overall draw. I tried to figure out which percentage goes to feeding starving 3rd world children, but many governments don't release information as to where their oil revenues actually go. Clearly, we need a policy that does not give a 30:1 preferential tax treatment favoring foreign oil over domestic oil, and we need public moral support for finding and producing the 22 billion barrels of undiscovered oil in reservoirs larger than 1 million barrels and economically recoverable under today's price environment within the lower 48 states, as defined by the United States Geological Survey. It is indefensible to obstruct domestic exploration, given the strong environmental record of the domestic oil business over the last 20 years. It's like burying your money in the back yard and letting it rot while you borrow from the Mafia. No offense to the Mafia."

Drillinginfo.com, a network of people and companies involved in the domestic oil and gas industry, first rolled out in August 2000. It has become the most quickly and widely adopted software application in the history of the U.S. oilpatch. It provides integrated data, analytical applications, and trade/sale assistance to over 1500 companies, including most Major, all large independent, and a large number of medium to small independent oil companies, along with service companies, financial providers, trust companies, law firms, legislators, and royalty owners. Its URL is http://www.drillinginfo.com. Contact Drillinginfo at [e-mail], or call 888/477-7667.