# 229.1201 (Item 1201) General instructions to oil and gas industry-specific disclosures.(a) If oil and gas producing activities are material to the registrant's or its subsidiaries' business operations or financial position, the disclosure specified in this Subpart 229.1200 should be included under appropriate captions (with cross references, where applicable, to related information disclosed in financial statements). However, limited partnerships and joint ventures that conduct, operate, manage, or report upon oil and gas drilling or income programs, that acquire properties either for drilling and production, or for production of oil, gas, or geothermal steam or water, need not include such disclosure.(b) To the extent that Items 1202 through 1208 (§§ 229.1202-229.1208) call for disclosures in tabular format, as specified in the particular Item, a registrant may modify such format for ease of presentation, to add information or to combine two or more required tables.(c) The definitions in Rule 4-10(a) of Regulation S-X (17 CFR 210.4-10(a)) shall apply for purposes of this Subpart 229.1200.(d) For purposes of this Subpart 229.1200, the term *by geographic area* means, as appropriate for meaningful disclosure in the circumstances:(1) By individual country;(2) By groups of countries within a continent; or(3) By continent.