This report presents the results of the Fraser Institute's 3rd annual survey of petroleum industry executives and managers regarding barriers to investment in oil and gas exploration and production in various jurisdictions around the world. The survey responses have been tallied to rank provinces, states, and countries by the severity of investment barriers such as high tax rates, costly regulatory schemes, and security threats, among other factors.

A total of 577 respondents completed the survey questionnaire this year, providing sufficient data to evaluate 143 jurisdictions. This is a substantial increase from the 2008 survey, in which 81 jurisdictions were rated, and the 2007 survey, in which 54 jurisdictions were rated.

The jurisdictions have been assigned scores for each of 16 factors that affect investment decisions. The scores are based on the proportion of negative responses a jurisdiction received; the greater the proportion of negative responses, the greater the perceived investment barriers and, therefore, the lower the jurisdiction's ranking. This year for the first time, the six Australian states, Australia's Northern Territory, and the Timor Gap were each evaluated as individual jurisdictions.

An All-Inclusive Composite Index derived from the scores of all 16 factors provides an overall assessment of each jurisdiction. On this basis, the 10 least attractive jurisdictions for investment are Bolivia, Niger, Venezuela, Ecuador, Sudan, Russia, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia.