Question: Industry benchmarking data is often hard to get, as competitors do not want to share this data. In the absence of industry benchmarks, how might you evaluate the performance of these activities?

This study covered some of the major administrative activities in oil companies. The sample consisted of five major oil companies located in the southeastern United States. The firms are larger in size than Shell Gabon. 1. General and Administrative represents the combined total of Business Systems, Lease Administration, Legal, Finance, Human Resources, and Headquarters/Other G&A. Data on G&A:

Average cost per barrel in study	$0.60
Best in study per barrel	$0.54
Words in study per barrel	$0.95

2. Finance/Other costs include treasury, cash, credit, and collections cash management, including banking and reconciliation, all non-severance tax activities such as ad valorem, income, sales and use, and franchise tax audit (internal, JV and responding to audits), financial planning and reporting, including both long-term and short-term planning (excluding operational planning). External audits are not in the category. Allocated corporate treasury and finance costs are also included in Finance.

Benchmarking data on Finance show:

Average cost per barrel in study	$0.20
Best in study per barrel	$0.12
Words in study per barrel	$0.30

3. Business Systems includes costs associated with the support and maintenance of existing business systems, software and hardware maintenance costs, and any internal and external project development costs, telecommunications, and any corporate information systems allocation. Production allocation systems are also a business systems cost. Business Systems includes related infrastructure costs, desktop, and software costs.

Benchmarking data on Business System costs show:

Average cost per barrel in study	$0.14
Best in study per barrel	$0.05
Words in study per barrel	$0.20

4. Legal activities include lawsuit-related activities associated with the exploration and production operations and legal business support activities. Legal includes outside and in-house counsel, including SEC attorneys. It does not include settlement costs and legal costs associated with discontinued operations (as per GAAP definition).

Benchmarking data on Legal Activities show:

Average cost per barrel in study	$0.09
Best in study per barrel	$0.03
Words in study per barrel	$0.18