The way I heard it was that the White House was going to -make sure- that the oil companies produced oil... Not that they drilled new wells... I'm guessing that there may be an attempt to say "Okay - You have this well, and you've sort of been sitting on it because you think that it'll produce more money when the price gets higher - You don't have that choice. Pump that sucker dry, and we'll give you $85/barrel, or you go to jail."