Yeah, and those friendly gas station attendants named "Bob" are long gone. Now you get Angry Abdul or How-cares Hakim!
Not well versed enough on the oil companies to debate this further, but wouldn't the net profits be NET of the exploration cots that you mentioned?
We're shooting a 100 degrees here in NJ today. How's it by you? I know this is no biggie in Austin, but I'm hoping the electric company can keep up today! It's hot!