COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TO TAL RETURN"
## Table 0 ##
Noble Energy, Inc.  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 89 Note 7.
Capitalized Exploratory Well Costs We capitalize exploratory well costs until a determination is made that the well has found proved reserves or is deemed noncommercial, in which case the well costs are immediately charged to exploration expense.
Changes in capitalized exploratory well costs are as follows and exclude amounts that were capitalized and subsequently expensed in the same period:
## Table 1 ##
The following table provides an aging of capitalized exploratory well costs (suspended well costs) based on the date the drilling was completed and the number of projects for which exploratory well costs have been capitalized for a period greater than one year since the completion of drilling:
## Table 2 ##
The following table provides a further aging of those exploratory well costs that have been capitalized for a period greater than one year since the completion of drilling as of December 31, 2009:
## Table 3 ##
Blocks O and I (West Africa) The West Africa project includes Blocks O and I offshore Equatorial Guinea and the YoYo mining concession and Tilapia production sharing contract offshore Cameroon.
Since drilling the initial well for this project, additional seismic work has been completed and exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled to further evaluate our discoveries.
The West Africa development team is proceeding with a program to further define the resources in this area such that an optimal development program may be designed.
On July 22, 2009, we announced that the Plan of Development for the Aseng field (formerly Benita) on Block I has been sanctioned by us, our partners, and the Ministry of Mines, Industry, and Energy of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
As a result, we reclassified $76 million of capitalized costs relating to the Aseng field out of capitalized exploratory well costs and into proved oil and gas properties.
We have evaluated the potential for additional liquids and gas projects, and expect that the next development will be at the Belinda field.
Belinda project sanction is currently scheduled to occur in 2010 with production beginning in 2013.
We are also evaluating future oil projects at Diega and Carmen and are currently scheduling first production for 2014, subject to sanctioning.
In Cameroon, we will acquire a 3-D seismic survey over YoYo and portions of Tilapia during 2010, and exploration drilling is currently planned in Tilapia for 2011.
Noble Energy, Inc.  Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 94 Our effective tax rate increased to 50% in 2009 as compared with 35% in 2008 and is the result of a tax benefit divided by a pre-tax loss.
In the case of a loss, our favorable permanent differences, such as income from equity method investees, have the effect of increasing the tax benefit which, in turn, increases the effective rate.
Our effective tax rate increased to 35% in 2008 as compared with 31% in 2007 primarily due to the fact that pre-tax earnings increased by a proportionately greater amount than our excludible permanent differences.
In addition, there was a rate increase due to (1) a partial shift of taxable income from lower rate jurisdictions such as Equatorial Guinea and Israel to higher rate jurisdictions, (2) the recording of US deferred taxes on the anticipated repatriation of foreign earnings as described below, and (3) the recording of an impairment of a foreign asset on which the tax benefit was offset by a valuation allowance.
During first quarter 2009, we repatriated $180 million of accumulated earnings of foreign subsidiaries and used the proceeds for debt repayment and general corporate purposes.
The repatriation increased US tax expense by $13 million, of which $9 million was recorded in 2008.
Repatriation of additional earnings in the future could result in a decrease in our net income and cash flows.
As of December 31, 2009, the accumulated undistributed earnings of the foreign subsidiaries on which no US taxes have been recorded were approximately $1.2 billion.
Upon distribution of additional earnings in the form of dividends or otherwise, we would likely be subject to US income taxes and foreign withholding taxes.
It is not practicable, however, to determine precisely the amount of taxes that may be payable on the eventual remittance of these earnings because of the possible application of US foreign tax credits.
Although we are currently claiming foreign tax credits, we may not be in a credit position when any future remittance of foreign earnings takes place, or the limitations imposed by the Internal Revenue Code and IRS Regulations may not allow the credits to be utilized during the applicable carryback and carryforward periods.
However, if full use of tax credits is assumed, we estimate that the future US taxes on eventual remittance would be approximately $230 million.
In 2007, China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, enacted the China Corporate Income Tax Law.
This new legislation decreased our tax rate in China from 33% to 25% starting in 2008, resulting in a $2 million reduction in deferred tax expense.
Adoption of US GAAP for Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes As discussed in Note 2—Significant Accounting Policies, we adopted US GAAP for accounting for uncertainty in income taxes, including unrecognized tax benefits as of January 1, 2007.
The adoption had no effect on our financial position or results of operations.
We did not have significant unrecognized tax benefits resulting from differences between positions taken in tax returns and amounts recognized in the financial statements as of December 31, 2008 or 2009.
Our policy is to recognize any interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits in income tax expense.
However, we did not accrue interest or penalties at December 31, 2008 or 2009, because the jurisdiction in which we have unrecognized tax benefits does not currently impose interest on underpayments of tax and we believe that we are below the minimum statutory threshold for imposition of penalties.
We do not expect that the total amount of unrecognized tax benefits will significantly increase or decrease during the next 12 months.
In our major tax jurisdictions, the earliest years remaining open to examination are as follows: US – 2006, Equatorial Guinea – 2007, China – 2006, Israel – 2000, UK – 2007 and the Netherlands – 2005.
Note 10.
Asset Retirement Obligations Asset retirement obligations consist of estimated costs of dismantlement, removal, site reclamation and similar activities associated with our oil and gas properties.
An asset retirement obligation and the related asset retirement cost are recorded when an asset is first constructed or purchased.
The asset retirement cost is determined and discounted to present value using a credit-adjusted risk-free rate.
After initial recording the liability is increased for the passage of time, with the increase being reflected as accretion expense in the statement of operations.
Subsequent adjustments in the cost estimate are reflected in the liability and the amounts continue to be amortized over the useful life of the related long-lived asset.
Changes in asset retirement obligations are as follows:
## Table 4 ##
For the year ended December 31, 2009, liabilities incurred related primarily to properties in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, the Aseng field in Equatorial Guinea and North Sea projects.
Liabilities settled related primarily to properties
to time in our marketing operations, none of our counterparty agreements contain margin requirements.
See additional information included in Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates – Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities and Item 7A.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
Accounts Receivable We have accounts receivable from sales of our crude oil, natural gas and NGLs, as well as electricity.
We also have accounts receivable related to our joint venture partners.
Some of these parties are not as creditworthy as we are and may experience liquidity problems.
We have obtained credit enhancements from some parties in the way of parental guarantees or letters of credit, including our largest international crude oil purchaser; however, not all of our trade credit is protected through guarantees or credit support.
Nonperformance by a trade creditor or joint venture partner could result in losses.
Other than reductions in the carrying value of a receivable from SemCrude, L. P. , a crude oil purchaser that declared bankruptcy in 2008 and certain entities purchasing electricity in Ecuador, we have experienced no significant collection issues with purchasers or joint venture partners.
See Item 8.
Financial Statements and Supplementary Data – Note 2.
Summary of Significant Accounting Policies.
Cash Flows Summary cash flow information is as follows:

<table><tr><td>Measurement PointDecember 31</td><td>Booking Holdings Inc.</td><td>NASDAQComposite Index</td><td>S&P 500Index</td><td>RDG InternetComposite</td></tr><tr><td>2013</td><td>100.00</td><td>100.00</td><td>100.00</td><td>100.00</td></tr><tr><td>2014</td><td>98.09</td><td>114.62</td><td>113.69</td><td>96.39</td></tr><tr><td>2015</td><td>109.68</td><td>122.81</td><td>115.26</td><td>133.20</td></tr><tr><td>2016</td><td>126.12</td><td>133.19</td><td>129.05</td><td>140.23</td></tr><tr><td>2017</td><td>149.50</td><td>172.11</td><td>157.22</td><td>202.15</td></tr><tr><td>2018</td><td>148.18</td><td>165.84</td><td>150.33</td><td>201.16</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">Year Ended December 31,</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2009</td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td></tr><tr><td>(millions)</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Capitalized Exploratory Well Costs, Beginning of Period</td><td>$501</td><td>$249</td><td>$80</td></tr><tr><td>Additions to Capitalized Exploratory Well Costs Pending Determination of Proved Reserves</td><td>136</td><td>253</td><td>182</td></tr><tr><td>Reclassified to Proved Oil and Gas Properties Based on Determination of Proved Reserves</td><td>-198</td><td>-</td><td>-7</td></tr><tr><td>Capitalized Exploratory Well Costs Charged to Expense</td><td>-7</td><td>-1</td><td>-6</td></tr><tr><td>Capitalized Exploratory Well Costs, End of Period</td><td>$432</td><td>$501</td><td>$249</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="3">December 31,</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2009</td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td></tr><tr><td>(millions)</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Exploratory Well Costs Capitalized for a Period of One Year or Less</td><td>$158</td><td>$256</td><td>$187</td></tr><tr><td>Exploratory Well Costs Capitalized for a Period Greater Than One Year After Completion of Drilling</td><td>274</td><td>245</td><td>62</td></tr><tr><td>Balance at End of Period</td><td>$432</td><td>$501</td><td>$249</td></tr><tr><td>Number of Projects with Exploratory Well Costs That Have Been Capitalized for a Period Greater Than One Year After Completion of Drilling</td><td>5</td><td>6</td><td>5</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td></td><td colspan="3">Suspended Since</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>Total</td><td>2008</td><td>2007</td><td>2006 & Prior</td></tr><tr><td>(millions)</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Project</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Blocks O and I (West Africa)</td><td>$172</td><td>$62</td><td>$96</td><td>$14</td></tr><tr><td>Gunflint (Deepwater Gulf of Mexico)</td><td>49</td><td>49</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Redrock (Deepwater Gulf of Mexico)</td><td>17</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>17</td></tr><tr><td>Flyndre (North Sea)</td><td>15</td><td>-</td><td>12</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Selkirk (North Sea)</td><td>21</td><td>-</td><td>21</td><td>-</td></tr><tr><td>Total Exploratory Well Costs Capitalized for a Period Greater Than One Year After Completion of Drilling</td><td>$274</td><td>$111</td><td>$129</td><td>$34</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td colspan="2">Year Ended December 31,</td></tr><tr><td></td><td>2009</td><td>2008</td></tr><tr><td>(in millions)</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Asset Retirement Obligations, Beginning of Period</td><td>$211</td><td>$144</td></tr><tr><td>Liabilities Incurred in Current Period</td><td>22</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>Liabilities Settled in Current Period</td><td>-36</td><td>-33</td></tr><tr><td>Revisions</td><td>21</td><td>75</td></tr><tr><td>Accretion Expense</td><td>14</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Asset Retirement Obligations, End of Period</td><td>$232</td><td>$211</td></tr></table>

Question: Which year is Exploratory Well Costs Capitalized for a Period of One Year or Less the least?
Answer: 2009