ExxonMobil to spend more to reverse output decline

NEW YORK (AFP) – US oil giant ExxonMobil Wednesday outlined a massive capital spending programme to boost production growth over the next five years in a bid to reverse recent output declines.

Exxon, delivering its annual analyst presentation at the New York Stock Exchange, said it would spend an average $38 billion per year in the 2013-2017 period, up $1 billion from the prior year’s forecast.

An Exxon sign is seen at a station in this file photo in Manassas, Virginia. US oil giant ExxonMobil on March 6 outlined a massive capital spending programme that it projected would lead to annual output increases of two to three per cent between 2013 and 2017. Exxon, delivering its annual analyst presentation at the New York Stock Exchange, said it would spend an average $38 billion per year over the five-year period, up from the $37 billion forecast at last year’s meeting

Exxon ended 2012 with oil and gas output of 4.24 million barrels a day, down 5.9 per cent from 2011 and nearly double the decline Exxon had projected a year ago.

On Wednesday the company forecast production would continue to decline over 2013, by one per cent, then pick up to an annual pace of two to three per cent through 2017.

Exxon outlined a wide-ranging investment plan, built on expanding legacy assets, like those in the Gulf of Mexico and Qatar, along with further progress promising ventures in Russia, offshore Romania and elsewhere.

“Everything we do is directed with the very long term in mind,” said Exxon chief executive Rex Tillerson. “We continue to deliver strong results and we’re well-prepared to continue.”

Tillerson told analysts that about half the gap between projected and actual 2012 output was due to operational problems, while the remainder was involved accounting.

Exxon projected the capital plan would boost its output from 4.2 million barrels a day of oil-equivalent in 2012 to 4.8 million barrels a day in 2017.

Exxon was questioned about its profitability per barrel of oil produced, which analysts complain has dropped in recent years. Tillerson said Exxon and its peers were in the midst of a multi-year phase of increased investment with the payout to come later.

“We’re growing capital employed… more quickly than we’re realising cash,” Tillerson said. “I never would have dreamed we’d be spending at these levels.”

Some of the extra spending goes to choice assets, such as Iraq or the assets associated with its acquisition of XTO that Exxon believed would pay out over the long term.

“We can shoulder (lower returns) for a period of time,” Tillerson said of lower returns. “But we don’t want to shoulder them forever.”

Tillerson said Exxon was working with the Canadian government on contingency plans to move Canadian crude to market if the long-discussed Keystone XL pipeline is not approved by the US State Department.