I think we must be getting to a point now where price is going to have an effect on demand and that will alleviate the lack of a supply cushion.

It tends to indicate these Earth-mass planets are quite common, 10 to 50 times more common than previously believed.

For a long time, we've worked on detecting planets with whatever was at hand, making use of existing small telescopes or even amateur telescopes. It's time to move on to the next stage.

There are really no other methods at present that can detect planets of this mass and at this separation.

(Producers') plans have already been put in place to achieve this, but it will take several years of sustained activity to develop the new production that can reliably replace today's supply.

Initial discussions with customers would indicate that the exploration and production spending environment is likely to remain strong and probably significantly strengthen in 2006,