I don't know if the people that are going on about the 68 million acres really understand the
oil business or not. From all the people I have ever talked to,very few have the slightest clue as to how the discovery phase of
oil fields take place.
I spent a lot of time managing Seismic Survey Ships that do the Geophysical Surveys.
People in this line of business are referred to as Doodlebuggers.
I found an article that does a good job of explaining the process.
You'll see that going out drilling holes on just a trial an error basis just doesn't happen.I think this is what too many people thinks happens.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling.htm