Number 4 - ExxonMobil in the UK

goals, resources and investment
philosophy?
And finally, is there a commercial
deal to be struck? We
don’t want to rule out a prospect
too early by saying it has
limited economic potential. We’d
rather see if it passes the first
two tests, and then look for a
creative way to structure a commercial
arrangement.
How does this process
work when you don’t
have much data?
If we don’t know much about
a particular basin, we look at
basins similar to it – analogues –
in other parts of the world. These
analogues help us determine
whether the basin we’re interested
in may have the potential
for a robust hydrocarbon system.
It’s a matter of understanding
the risk and lowering the
7
uncertainty by acquiring the best
information and by conducting
the most thorough analysis.
It’s important to understand
the difference between risk and
uncertainty. With risk, you’ve
identified a prospect and understand
the potential variables
well enough to make a business
decision. With uncertainty, you
just don’t have the information
to determine whether it’s risky
or not. Therefore, a phased
approach to collecting key data
is very important.
How successful has
ExxonMobil been in
making new exploration
acquisitions? What’s been
the trend?
At the time of the merger, Exxon
and Mobil brought a large number
of opportunities into our
combined portfolio. We had to
Tim Cejka, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company, says access
to newly opened U.S. exploration areas won’t solve energy supply
issues overnight – but it could be part of a larger solution.
sort them out and do some prioritizing,
and by being selective,
we actually trimmed the list.
As our global understanding
grew, we started to ramp up
acquisitions and the pursuit of
new opportunities. We’re acquiring
about 10 to 15 new assets
a year, and we’ve increased our
acreage holdings since 2005.
The trend is rising, with 2008
anticipated to be another record
year for captures (lease/resource
acquisitions), and we expect a
similar level in 2009.
What role does
technology play in the
exploration business?
It’s an essential tool for doing
our job.
But even with the very best
technological tools, you still
need brain power to create
ideas. We hire the best people,
and then we try to create an
environment in which innovation
and creativity abound.
Could you talk about
the lead times involved
from finding to producing
a prospect?
We routinely deal with long
lead times in this business, and
Angola is a good example. We
acquired the first license, Block
15, in 1994. We’d been doing
regional geology studies for
about two years prior to that.
We had first production in 2003
with the Xikomba field. Since
then, we’ve put additional fields
into production. This was a
good example of working in
a new country, in deep water,
and addressing a range of
logistical, technological and
financial challenges.