I remember the excitement of taking part in a simulation exercise involving the buying, exploration and exploitation of North Sea oilfields. The benefits of oil to the British economy are communicated to us by the corporate advertising of Esso, Shell and BP, the news items about dockyards taking on rig building and the occasional visit by royalty or a television personality to a rig. The price of oil, and especially price drops resulting in cheaper patrol are headline news.

The oil companies do much to try and educate us about their business, about the difficulties, the technical achievements and the massive benefits. The excitement of that simulation was generated with cards and a wall map. Nowadays the microcomputer has taken on the role of information processor and data handler in the Geography lessons. Packages like Questmap accept data typed in by children, who have collected information in the field. The software can then graphically display the data, in bar charts or on a background map of the area.

British Petroleum Educational Services have decided to type in their own data so to speak. Their software package, The BP Energy File, consists of a specialist database, the datafiles on energy, production and consumption for over 30 world countries/regions. Natural gas, water power, nuclear power and coal are included although there's slightly more detail on oil, as you would expect. Comparative files contain data on the world share of 15 regions. As well as students of Geography, the information is aimed at those studying business (BTEC courses at National, Higher Levels and Business Studies A level, SCOTVEC courses in Scotland), economics (GCE, O and A levels CSE and GCSE), energy (as a topic in a variety of courses such as physics, geography, environmental studies, general studies and economics), computer studies (as database), geography (O and A level) and modern studies.

The software is accompanied by six worksheets, a Tutor's guide, reference sheet and program notes. All are excellently produced. The tutor's guide contains a set of example exam papers mainly from past O level Geography papers. There are also a couple of data capture sheets which can be photocopied and used by students to format their own data for entry into the database files. This is a simple operation, creating a new empty record, moving through the file to it and filling in the gaps. This allows the study of a particular geographical area to be incorporated into the statistics.

The database elements are just the start. There's a whole world of forecasting methods to investigate as well. Energy is such an important element in today's economy and oil plays an important part in our daily lives. It's never off the television or out of the papers. This software offers the chance to find out more and to get the facts and figures behind the stories.

The BP Energy file is a very professional package, as you might expect, and the UK "educational price" of £11.95 makes it an essential purchase. All enquiries and orders to BP Educational Service, PO Box 5, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7EH. Telephone 0937 843477.

Anne Owen