The oil game: Man-machine simulation of competitive bidding

The Oil Game models the environment of competitive bidding for offshore oil and gas tracts. It utilizes the capabilities for man/machine interaction of the Laboratory at Berkeley; its objective is to study the economic consequences of having the government set alternative leasing policies. Policies which are readily simulated include royalty vs. lump sum ("bonus") bidding; prohibition or encouragement of bidding syndicates; public vs. private information provision, and other alternative policies which have attracted government and industry attention here and abroad. By observing a large number of outcomes of the game, implications of alternative oil leasing policies can be derived for environments whose complexity effectively precludes analytical solution.