11.   Norton said the new exploration could be done with minimal environmental damage.

12.   Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, is keeping an eye on oil interests pushing for new Arctic exploration.

13.   Petroleos de Venezuela SA named Claus Graf to head its new exploration and production unit, government officials said.

14.   Proven worldwide reserves are now about one trillion barrels, a figure that tends to rise over time with new exploration, cheaper extraction methods and changes in price.

15.   That has happened, but a few cosmologists say these new explorations also have taken them to shores they did not expect to discover.

16.   The assets of companies like Marathon, Amerada Hess and Occidental have not been seized and new exploration concessions are held open in hopes that the Americans will return.

17.   The Interior Department has requested additional information from the oil companies proposing new exploration.

18.   They also cite the need for new pipelines to transport gas and the need for new exploration as additional troubles facing the natural gas industry.

19.   They now face high interest costs and are having a tough time meeting their payments and financing new exploration.

20.   This would include both expansion of existing sites and new exploration.