To date the petroleum industry is second only to the Department of Defense in its stimulation of ocean technology. By the end of 1968, American petroleum companies had invested over 13 billion dollars on the continental shelves of the United States. The development of submersibles, man in the sea, instruments, seismic surveys, mapping and charting, and development of ocean structures and engineering have all been profoundly effected by this massive injection of capital. It is obviously of interest, therefore, to consider policies which affect offshore oil exploration and development. This paper is confined to analyzing three such economic policies in terms of their effects on the industry, their costs, and alternatives