Number 4 - ExxonMobil in the UK

Access to domestic resources
Some federal lands and offshore areas in federal waters
have been off limits to the oil and gas industry for more
than 20 years. In 2008, Congress and the president lifted
those bans, although state restrictions still apply. Does
that mean the United States can now achieve energy
self-sufficiency?
No, says Tim Cejka, president of ExxonMobil
Exploration Company, but that’s not the point.
“Drilling in these newly opened areas won’t solve price
and supply issues overnight,” he says. “But opening
them up can be an important part of the larger solution
to meeting the nation’s energy needs.”
Cejka points out that there is no single solution to
meeting the nation’s energy challenges.
“Increased drilling, both domestically and globally,
combined with technology, development of alternative
energy sources and improved energy efficiency, builds
the best path forward,” he says.
What challenges does
Exploration face in high- and
low-price environments?
The Exploration Company has
two overarching objectives. One
is to be safe, ethical and environmentally
sensitive in everything
we do. The second is to add
resources to the corporation’s
inventory that exceed production
in any business environment.
It’s all about constancy of
purpose. As other companies
trim back budgets and activities
due to the economic crisis,
we will execute our exploration
program as planned to add new
resources and actively pursue
new opportunities. In fact, our
plan and budget for the next few
years is the most active since the
merger, with a record number
of operated wells targeting highpotential
opportunities in new
areas around the world.
Does ExxonMobil pursue
specific resource types?
We pursue most types of
resources. We look for conventional
oil and gas as well as
remote gas that will have to be
commercialized such as LNG
[liquefied natural gas]. We’re active
in heavy oil, tight gas, oil shale
and shale gas.
Our goal is to be the best in
each resource type. This diversity
increases the strength of our
portfolio.
Where are the new opportunities
for ExxonMobil?
We’ve been in the Arctic for
some time, and some interesting
new opportunities are starting to
open up. The Canadian Beaufort
Sea is a good example. When
the government’s tender offer
recently came up, we were ready
to move because we had already
decided we wanted to
be in that area. As a
result, we were able to get a very
large, high-potential block in the
Canadian Beaufort Sea.
We’ve been in Greenland for
more than 20 years. Recently,
we looked at some regional
studies we’d done. There was a
potential oil seep onshore western
Greenland, which suggested
the presence of good source
rock. We sampled the oil and
decided the area had potential,
and now we have two blocks in
the western offshore.
In Brazil, we’re drilling an
exploration well into a very large
structure. There have been
some encouraging discoveries in
the area, so we’re hopeful about
the outcome.
The situation in New Zealand
is far more uncertain. A few
noncommercial gas discoveries
have been made in the Great
South Basin, and the assumption
had been that the basin was not
prospective. We included that
basin in a major regional study
and discovered it had areas that
might hold natural gas. We also
saw information on a previous
seismic survey that appeared to
be a direct hydrocarbon indicator.
Subsequently, we leased a very
large block.
In Indonesia, we took our
onshore success at Cepu and
asked ourselves whether that
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play could continue offshore.
When we looked,
we saw some very good indications
of hydrocarbon-bearing formations.
We went to tender and
won several leases with plans to
drill in early 2009.
What advantages does
ExxonMobil have over our
competitors in pursuing
exploration opportunities?
First of all, our people – we have
the best in the industry. The
same is true of our technology
and financial strength.
In addition, our global computing
systems and global
reach have given us a significant
advantage. They enable us to
look at the characteristics of a
successful field in one part of
the world and to search for a
field with the same characteristics
in another region.
I like to use the example of
the “five whys.” When someone
puts forward a proposal, the first
question is “Why would you do
that?” That’s usually pretty easy
to answer. And then you ask a
second, deeper “why,” and it’s a
little harder to answer. You ask
the third “why,” then the fourth
and the fifth, and each question
gets tougher. What you find is
that ExxonMobil people have
the courage and confidence to
handle the fifth “why.” the Lamp
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