1. vt. [Geology]

To inspect an area or to monitor activity.

See related terms: exploration,  production,  tight

2. n. [Geology]

A petroleum industry worker who tracks competitive exploration and production activity, either for a company or on a free-lance basis. Scouts can facilitate trading of technical data such as well logs among companies before such data enter the public domain unless the operations or data are held "tight."

See related terms: exploration,  production,  tight