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.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station