US Companies Explore Wall St. for Oil Reserves

Big U.S. oil and gas companies added more oil reserves in 2005 by using their checkbooks instead of their drill bits, and paid top dollar for the privilege, analysts said on Friday.

So far, it appears the major companies that replaced more than 100 percent of their production last year did so by buying fields rather than finding them — a trend that could quietly usher in shrinking global reserves.
Reuters