COP has hidden this fact from the analysts (hey analysts, how about asking questions. Come on Merrill, JP Morgan, Goldman, Deutshebank. Start doing your job.
Get COP on public record regarding shale performance to date). Internally, the employees know the magnitude of the cash flow losses for each of the plays. Pull the data from SAP. Come on ELT, share the data in the worthless town halls.
You are on record as this is the future "growth area". It is all we have and we can not reach break even. If this does get out, look for stock price to be adversely affected.