Officials, including Mr Gabrielli, argue that since drilling in the pre-salt is now almost certain to yield oil, the rewards for investors in new blocks should reflect this lower exploration risk.

ECONOMIST: Brazil

The tar sands, with potentially more reserves than Saudi Arabia, have no exploration risk the oil lies just below the surface, in known areas so that eliminates a major cost component for large oil companies.

FORBES: BP Is Cheap, But Not A Hostile Candidate

In a high-risk move, Plains Exploration (PXP) is levering up big time in order to acquire wells in the Gulf of Mexico from the BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

FORBES: Plains Levers Up To Buy BP Gulf Assets: Borrows More Than Its Market Capitalization

Exxon in recent years has become increasingly risk averse in its wildcat exploration after a series of costly dry holes.

FORBES: Exxon's Declining Output A Sign Of The Times

In the Sept. 2 issue of his newsletter, Way reports that PXP has five times more upside return potential than downside risk, tops among the exploration and production stocks.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Though its financials are good, oil-exploration companies are usually considered higher-risk deals due to the volatility of energy prices and the possibility that they may not be able to take all their wells into viable production.

WSJ: Tech Deals Top Week's IPOs

But still, accepting that space flight is very risky, do you think that NASA has become maybe too risk averse for effective manned space exploration?

NPR: Former Astronaut on NASA Risk Assessment

In Pakistan, for example, the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM), created under the auspices of UNESCO, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) designed the Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS), a risk-prevention system using data obtained via satellite.

UNESCO: Published in Mainichi Newspaper on 21 May 2012.

Such shareholders may not blink at the prospect of virgin Alaskan wilderness opening up for oil exploration, but they care if this poses a risk to a company's share price.

ECONOMIST: Multinationals and lobbyists

The lives of these people are very precious to us, and the board considered that very serious matter that these brave people thought that what they were doing was important, that it was significant, that it was part of human space exploration, that the things that were going to be learned from this mission were worth the risk that they were taking.

CNN: Board chairman: Shuttle design safe

There is also a risk that large amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, could escape during shale-gas exploration and production.

ECONOMIST: The ��golden age of gas�� could be cleaner than greens think