From: John Cuccia 

On Tue, 9 Jan 2007 23:59:06 -0500, "Geo."  wrote:

>"John Cuccia"  wrote in message
>news:hkh8q212uk4clct8krtqs6ren8g67nel28{at}4ax.com...
>
>>>Name one country on earth where it works that way when the oil
industry is
>>>involved.
>>
>> How about the good ole USA?
>>
>> Oil leases on federal lands, including offshore, are procured via
>> sealed bid.
>
>Sure they are, provided you are allowed to bid.

Anyone can bid on US oil leases.  They are regularly awared to companies of
all sizes from all over the world.

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5