From the Rules:
"The game of Exploration is a realistic model of the daily events and excitement in an Oil & Gas Exploration Department
Players will instantly find themselves making decisions regarding where to drill, where to run seismic surveys, and how much to bid for prospective land parcels."
Game components include the Drilling Tool (a plastic oil rig with a long pin), the Seismic Tool (a plastic box with iron filings), money, player's score sheets, 4 different-colored Land Owner markers, colored pins to mark drilled wells (White= Dry, Yellow= Average, Red= Super Producers, Black= Wildcat), Crown Land Sale markers, Hazard cards, Windfall cards, and a gameboard with movable multi-stepped, multi-sized Oil Reservoirs placed inside (with magnets embedded in some of the 'super' producing regions).