He added that Mr. Woods was taking over a “formidable competitor” with the good fortune to<br />have a powerful combination of “high-quality rocks, technology and management depth.”<br />Though Exxon has yet to hint at it, some energy experts are predicting<br />that the company still has enough cash and borrowing ability to take part in the initial public offering for a piece of Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, as a way to garner a large dividend stream and perhaps even acquire new production possibilities<br />That should help the company substantially increase reserves,<br />and stabilize and potentially increase daily production of oil and natural gas to as much as 4.4 million barrels by 2020 from just over four million barrels now.<br />The company has also announced the discovery of a large oil field off the shores of Nigeria, started drilling in Liberia, increased investments in gas production<br />and exports in Papua New Guinea and expanded refineries in Singapore and the Netherlands.<br />Before leaving for the State Department, Mr. Tillerson negotiated the acquisition of a giant field in the Permian Basin, which straddles West Texas and New Mexico,<br />that should add more than three billion barrels of accessible reserves to Exxon Mobil’s inventory.<br />“We continue to expect to see volatility in the markets.”<br />The company’s recent faltering fortunes were underscored last month by its removal of several billion barrels of Canadian oil sands from its books, an acknowledgment<br />that the resource cannot be profitably produced anywhere near today’s commodity prices for the foreseeable future.<br />Even with the partial recovery of oil prices in recent months, Mr. Woods suggested<br />that many unpredictable market factors could take commodity prices higher or lower.
