Even though the price of crude oil has fallen by more than one-third since last November, oil companies are not reducing exploration budgets.

Even our giant energy companies are curtailing exploration budgets, and this will simply deepen American dependence on foreign oil.

Exxon last year sharply reduced its exploration budget and its work force.

And he reduced the company's 1986 capital and exploration budget to $1.7 billion, from $2.8 billion.

Thus, his company and other major producers are not planning to cut back on their exploration budgets at this point.

Capital spending, including exploration budgets, rose 17.1 percent, to $566 million.

The lower prices, however, have hit the oil industry hard, with some major oil companies cutting already-lean work forces back further and trimming exploration budgets.

"There is an increasing allocation in exploration budgets to deep-water drilling."

Higher oil prices than anticipated in 1990 caused most companies to increase exploration budgets slightly more than they had planned.

They tend to base their exploration budgets on prices of around $18 a barrel.