During the exploratory drilling phase, the goals are simple: Get in, find out if there's oil and then move on to the next site.

Late last month Occidental finally got legal authority to do exploratory drilling.

Isramco reported in 2006 that the exploratory drilling was expected to cost $69 million.

Because many of these areas have largely been spared exploratory drilling, it is hard to know exactly how much oil and gas they hold.

Cuadrilla has also started exploratory drilling at two other sites in the region.

(2) Exploratory drilling can be conducted without causing impact on the environment.

In 2009, exploratory drilling of the Tamar gas field proved the earlier expectations.

Chevron already has an agreement for exploratory drilling at one of the Cambodian fields.

Drillships are just one way to perform exploratory drilling.

It will now carry out geological and sonar tests before any exploratory drilling starts.

Two more rounds of exploratory drilling have followed.

Exploratory drilling for oil and gas is under way offshore, and initial results are promising.

Newcrest then focused on exploratory drilling for new minerals.

The first exploratory drilling for gas was in 1972, but gas discoveries have drawn regional interest since the late 1980s.

In 2008 Tiger reported that exploratory drilling had found ores with significant grades of copper.

There is also exploratory drilling to see if the area's rock formation could contain high-level radioactive waste.

"The exploratory drilling was actually scary as hell.

Exploratory drilling in the sinkhole yielded quantities of bison bones.

Little is risked by the exploratory drilling.

Mr. Driscoll said additional exploratory drilling would probably reveal larger reserves.

He picked up a phone and asked that the Christmas tree be opened and the exploratory drilling restarted.

Exploratory drilling began two years ago, and the oil giant Chevron says it has found potentially huge deposits off the southern shore.

To "compromise" on this issue by allowing just a little exploratory drilling in the area is like becoming "only a little bit pregnant."

Seven months ago, the plan called for beginning work for exploratory drilling by now, but the goal remains five months away and may slip further.

"They have a much more aggressive level of exploratory drilling than others," Mr. Rodgers said.