Exxon Mobil plans 20 new projects

Exxon Mobil plans 20 new projects

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Story Published: Mar 7, 2007 at 9:47 AM PDT

Story Updated: Mar 7, 2007 at 9:47 AM PDT

By Associated Press

HOUSTON (AP) - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said Wednesday it plans 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 Irving, Texas-based company said its project inventory at the end of 2006 has the potential to develop 24 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson said Exxon Mobil's capital spending would be about $20 billion a year through at least 2011. The company's capital spending tab in 2006 was nearly $20 billion, up $2.2 billion from 2005, the company said when it reported full-year results last month.

"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."

He pointed out the company's return on investment, noting Exxon Mobil led the industry in 2006 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 U.S. company - $39.5 billion - although its earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.

The record annual earnings followed a year of extraordinarily high energy prices as crude oil topped $78 a barrel in the summer - driving up average gasoline prices in the United States to more than $3 a gallon. Prices retreated later in the year.

The fourth-quarter decline reflected lower profits from Exxon's refining and marketing operations and a sharp drop-off in natural gas prices.

Exxon shares rose 39 cents to $71.39 in late morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have traded in a range of $56.64 to $79 in the past year.

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