The Fraser Institute launched its first survey of the upstream (i.e., covering oil and gas exploration and development, not refining or marketing) petroleum industry in the Spring of 2007. The survey questionnaire was modeled after that used in the Institute's very successful annual surveys of metal mining and exploration companies that have been undertaken since 1997. Essentially, this survey was designed to determine in which jurisdictions public policy factors, such as taxation and regulation, and the business environment more generally, constitute significant barriers to investment in the upstream petroleum industry, specifically exploration and production development. Responses were received from 375 individuals involved in the industry. The 2006 petroleum exploration and production development budgets of companies employing people who responded to the survey were about US $85 billion, or approximately 31 percent of global expenditures of this kind in 2006, according to Oil & Gas Journal .