Print

Mail

wiki links

Exxon Mobil to launch more than 20 projects to boost global oil production

Exxon Mobil Corp, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said on Wednesday it planned to begin more than 20 new global projects in the next three years, investments expected to add 1 million oil-equivalent barrels a day to its volumes.

The Texas-based company said its project inventory at the end of last year has the potential to develop 24 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said Exxon Mobil's capital spending would be about US$20 billion a year through the end of the decade. The firm's capital spending last year was nearly US$20 billion, up US$2.2 billion from 2005.

"Market and geopolitical forces continue to shape the environment in which we operate," Tillerson told analysts during a presentation at the New York Stock Exchange. "Our view of what it takes to be successful in this industry has not changed. It requires consistency, integrity, discipline, reliability and ingenuity."

Tillerson also said the company had decided to turn over operational control of a joint venture project in Venezuela's oil-rich Orinoco River region to its partner, the state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered by decree last week the takeover of oil projects run by foreign oil companies in the Orinoco region.

But Tillerson said discussions continue over the ownership stake of its Venezuelan operations and other aspects of the arrangements.

During the three-hour session, Tillerson pointed out the company's return on investment, noting Exxon Mobil led the industry last year with return on capital employed of 32 percent, 50 percent higher than its competitors.

Last month, Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a US company -- US$39.5 billion -- although its earnings for the last quarter of last year slid 4 percent.
This story has been viewed 1388 times.