Ask Dave Wrestler of Humboldt about oil production and hes apt to say its much like farming, which he does as well as work in oil.
The two pursuits involve risks that are beyond human control, although technological advances have improved opportunities for success.
A drillers concern with Mother Earth is whether a small shaft punched 800 or 900 feet into the ground thats the length of three football fields hereabouts will intercept a layer of sand holding oil created millions of years ago. Oil formed when tiny plants and animals died, fell to an oceans bottom and were trapped in sand and mud. When that occurred, oceans and continents were configured much differently.