Goal 1: What the Company Does

• What company/business unit are you evaluating?
• What is the focus of the company/business unit?
• What sector of the oil and gas industry does the company’s/business unit’s focus fall under?
• Is the company or parent company of the business unit public, private, or government controlled? Explain your basis for categorizing the company as such.
• Which of the following is the company more dependent on demand for, if any: crude oil, raw natural gas, processed natural gas, and/or refined petroleum products?
• Where does the company/business unit operate geographically?
• How does the total size of these operations compare to those of other companies that compete in this sector (e.g., is your company among the top five biggest in the sector, worldwide if international or in the country they operate if domestic)?

Goal 2: How the Company/Business Unit Has Performed

• What has been the overall state of the sector that the company/business unit operates in over the past 3–5 years in terms of product supply, demand, and prices? 
• How has the company/business unit done relative to other companies/business units engaged in the same activities?
• Has the company/business unit grown/shrunk/stayed largely unchanged? Why?

Goal 3: What the Challenges/Successes Have Been for the Company

• What have been the most significant challenges and/or successes for the company over the past 3–5 years?
• What challenges/successes does the company/business unit (and/or expert followers of it) say it will be positioning itself for in the next 3–5 years?
• What does the company/business unit (and/or expert followers of it) say are its plans or strategy for the upcoming several years?