21. In the developing countries, expenditures on exploration and developmentincreased from $1.8 billion in 1970 to 921.9 blltion in 1982. As a resulr of thiseffort sone successes had been achieved, though not as many as rras lhought possiblein the early 1970s. Today, over 30 developlng counlries not nembers of tbeorganizat.ion of petroleurn Exportlng countri€s (opEc) produce oir. Ten of tbeseproduced very little or nothing in I97O (Benin, Caheroon, Congo, chana. cualenala,Ivory Coast. Malaysia, philippines, Thailand and Zaire) and Do!, produce. inaggregale, about 800,000 barrels per day. Nearly 60 per cent of this is accountedfor by Malaysia. Six other developing countries (Brazil, Egypt, India, Mexlco,Peru and syrian Arab Republic), ehich had been substanlial producers in 1970, bavebeen able to increase their production fron 1.2 nirlion barrels per day in l97o to4.9 million in 1984. Of course, the noat spectacular success was Mexico, but themedian producEion of the other five countries in l9g4 was a80,000 barrels per day.Tbe renaining 15 countries that produced oil in 1970, bad no!. aa a qroup. increased their production significantly since. 22. World oil denand outside the centrally planned economies had decreased byabou! 12 per cent, and oil prices had dropped by about 24 per cent in United statesdollar terms since 1979. Furthermore, the generally held vier, $as that denand foroj.I l^'ould grov, slori'ly for the rernainder of thls cenEurv. 23. The glut. of oil on world markets has discouraged exploration. Transnationafoil corporations have cut tbeir exploration and developnenc expenditures, and staeepetroleum enterprises in developing countries have found it difficult to borro!,tfron traditional sources in vieu of the deep indebeedness of their countries oftendespite the econornic attractiveness of petroleum projects as s tra igh tforr.ra rd inportsubstitution investnents- 24. In addition, it was noted that exploratory drilling had decreasedUnited States of Arnerica since nid-1984, because of falling oil prices increasing marginal cosls of finding oil. The laEter has been given asin the and reasons for a nurnber of recent consolidations among oil corporations incountry, it being cheaper to acguire proven reserves than to explore and new reserves. Tbis phenomenon hae led to reduced financial allocationsexploration in a number of companies.one of the that develop forAl40 /63'? English Page 7 25. In this respect it eas obaerved that Prior to l9?0 annual additions to world oil reserves had exceeded annual levels of production but since then additions have been insufficient to rePlace production. Cost of exploration and production 26. It was observed also that no lnternational agency naintained consiseenl
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the state of the oil industry, specifically the exploration and production of oil in developing countries and its impact on the global market. The text also touches on the topic of oil prices, demand, and the cost of exploration and production. Given the focus on the oil industry and its economic implications, I hypothesize that the text is most closely related to the categories of **Economic development**, **Natural resources and environment**, and **Industry**.

**Category**
Economic development, Natural resources and environment, Industry