Exxon Mobil Corporation Announces 2006 Reserves Replacement
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) announced today that additions
to its worldwide proved oil and gas reserves totaled 1.95 billion
oil-equivalent barrels in 2006, excluding the effects of using
single-day, year-end pricing. Production totaled 1.6 billion
oil-equivalent barrels in 2006, with 976 million barrels of liquids
and 3.7 trillion cubic feet of gas produced. The corporation replaced
122 percent of production including property sales and 129 percent
excluding property sales.
"With a 5-year average replacement ratio of 114 percent,
ExxonMobil has continued to replace annual production with new quality
opportunities," said Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil Corporation's chairman
and chief executive officer. "This performance is a reflection of our
disciplined investment strategy and strong project portfolio and
execution capabilities, which enable the corporation to continue to
develop its globally diverse resource base to help meet the world's
growing energy needs. The annual reporting of proved reserves is the
product of our long-standing, rigorous process that ensures
consistency and management accountability with respect to all reserves
bookings."
The reserve additions in 2006 came from all geographical regions.
The most significant additions came from the Asia Pacific / Middle
East region.
In Qatar, ExxonMobil grew its portfolio in the North Field through
an agreement with the State of Qatar to expand the Al Khaleej domestic
gas project.
In the United Arab Emirates, ExxonMobil was selected by the Abu
Dhabi National Oil Company for participation in the Upper Zakum field
development, resulting in a 28 percent interest in the field.
ExxonMobil's capabilities to increase oil recovery and efficiently
build production capacity were key considerations in the selection.
Proved reserve additions were also made in West Africa from
developments in Angola and Nigeria, and from new developments and
established operations in Norway, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Canada,
Australia, and Russia. These additions reflect developments with
substantial funding commitments as well as revisions or extensions to
existing fields following additional drilling, reservoir performance
data and evaluation, or study activities. Asset sales reduced proved
reserves by 0.1 billion oil-equivalent barrels. Consistent with its
long-standing practice, ExxonMobil's reserve base assumes the pricing
basis that the Corporation uses to make its investment decisions.
Effect of Single-Day, Year-End Pricing Calculation
ExxonMobil also states proved reserves utilizing December 31
liquids and natural gas prices. On this basis, the total proved
reserves additions in 2006 were 2.0 billion oil-equivalent barrels,
resulting in a reserves replacement ratio of 128 percent, including
the effects of property sales. However, the use of prices from a
single date is not relevant to investment decisions made by the
corporation, and annual variations in reserves based on such year-end
prices are not of consequence in how the business is actually managed.
Long-Term View
Given the long-term nature of the industry and the large size of
the discrete projects that provide a significant portion of the
corporation's reserves additions, it is appropriate to consider a time
horizon longer than a single year. Excluding the effects of using
single-day, year-end pricing, the corporation's ten-year average
reserves replacement is 115 percent, with liquids replacement at 112
percent, and gas at 118 percent.
The reserve additions made during this period comprise a diversity
of resource types and have broad geographical representation. With
22.7 billion barrels of proved oil and gas reserves at year-end 2006,
split about evenly between liquids and gas, ExxonMobil's reserves life
at current production rates is 14.2 years. The portion of proved
reserves already developed is 64 percent.
Resource Base Continues To Grow
ExxonMobil added 4.3 billion oil-equivalent barrels of total
resources in 2006. Additions to the resource base were characterized
by high-quality discoveries from drilling and the capture of equity
positions in discovered resources. Key 2006 resource-base additions
were associated with successful exploration drilling campaigns in the
United States, Australia, Angola, Kazakhstan, and Nigeria. Discovered
resource additions include those at the Upper Zakum field in Abu
Dhabi, as well as resources underpinning new liquefied natural gas and
pipeline gas developments in Qatar.
After reflecting 2006 production, reductions due to asset sales,
and revisions to existing fields, the corporation's total oil and gas
resource base grew by 0.7 billion oil-equivalent barrels to 73.9
billion oil-equivalent barrels. The resource base includes proved and
probable reserves, plus other discovered resources that are expected
to be ultimately recovered.
CAUTIONARY NOTE: The terms "resources" and "resource base"
includes quantities of discovered oil and gas that are not yet
classified as proved reserves but that are expected to be ultimately
recovered in the future. The term "reserves," as used in this release,
includes proved reserves from Syncrude oil sands operations in Canada
which are treated as mining operations in our SEC reports. The proved
reserves in this release are the combined total from both consolidated
subsidiaries and equity companies. The corporation operates its
business with the same views of equity company reserves as it has for
reserves from consolidated subsidiaries.