8 - contracts. Also needed is an improvement in our discovery rate, for we have been consuming reserves faster than we are finding them. To this end we have reorganized our uranium exploration group and funded its programs more heavily. We remain convinced that uranium must play an ever increasing role in the U. S. energy picture, for this appears to be the only intelligent course to follow. Steam coal earnings are derived from the 7 million tons we produced annually from our Navajo Mine and more recently supplemented by modest earnings as a contract miner for about 1 million tons a year mined from nearby reserves owned by Western Coal Company and utilized in the San Juan Power Plant. Earnings here are steady and little changed from last year. Fluctuations result more from the mechanical reliability problems of the generating stations than from economic conditions. Utah entered the oil and gas business in a substantial way in November 1973 through the acquisition of Ladd Petroleum, followed later in the year by acquisitions of Clarcan Petroleum and LVO Corporation. Over 2 1/2 million shares of Utah International common stock with a combined market value in excess of $110 million on the dates of the respective mergers were required to make these acquisitions. All our oil and gas operations are now under Ladd Petroleum whose sales in 1974 included more than 2 million barrels of crude oil and 28 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The size of the operations does not yet have the established majors quaking in their boots but it gives Utah a solid base on which to build. To this end we have stepped up the exploration effort very substantially.