Commenting on ExxonMobil's diverse resource base from exploration discoveries and industry-leading deepwater acreage position, Foster said that deepwater production is expected to provide a significant portion of the company's total production by 2010. A number of deepwater projects are being constructed or planned in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, along with other areas.

Foster attributed the company's success in deepwater development to the consistent application of a number of business fundamentals designed to lower costs and improve cycle times while maintaining high safety and environmental standards.

He also credited the restructuring of the company along functional lines, following the merger between Exxon and Mobil, as a key strength from an operational and financial perspective.

The critical role technology plays in realizing resources from increasingly deeper water depths was emphasized throughout Foster's remarks. "Technology has always been the lynchpin to success in our industry and at ExxonMobil, and it is one of the keys to unlocking the resources required in the future. ExxonMobil has a long-standing commitment to technology, investing at around twice the level of competition and has a solid track record of integrating new technology into proven designs."

Another key business approach for ExxonMobil is its application of standardized design concepts. "By having robust standard designs on the shelf, we can very quickly move a project from discovery to implementation without the lead time and cost required to develop a new stand-alone design," said Foster. "Part of our proprietary development toolkit is a concept of 'design one and build multiple'. This approach makes new technical solutions developed for mega-projects more attractive for other applications. The concept has already allowed us to reduce the costs of LNG trains in Qatar by 30 percent. We expect similar results from the use of this concept on deepwater applications.

"Another application of our development toolkit is the Early Production System, or EPS. Rather than waiting for all of the project infrastructure to be in place prior to starting production, we are beginning production while construction of the permanent infrastructure is still underway. This allows us to accelerate start-up by bringing volumes on stream 2-4 years early, significantly enhancing overall project returns. In fact, our discounted cash flow economics can be improved as much as 3 to 5 percentage points through the use of an EPS system," Foster said. ExxonMobil's first EPS system set sail from Singapore to Nigeria late last month. It will be used to bring production at Yoho on stream in 2002, three years earlier than under traditional approaches.

Just as on the project side of the business, ExxonMobil also has a toolkit of drilling initiatives that yield additional productivity gains. The Company's standardized drilling processes have delivered over $500 million in cost savings during the years 2000 and 2001.

Not only is the design of the project important, but it is also critical to have disciplined project management given the levels of investment and timelines involved for mega-projects. ExxonMobil has used its own proprietary project management system to execute these projects effectively with the highest of safety and environmental standards. For example, this approach allowed ExxonMobil to bring the 83-story, one-billion-dollar Hoover-Diana project -- the deepest water production and drilling platform in the world -- on stream at $100 million under budget and four months ahead of schedule. Hoover-Diana started up less than four years after discovery, a significant achievement given the complexities of the project.

Foster concluded his speech by saying that ExxonMobil has a large slate of upstream opportunities it is currently progressing. "During this decade, we have the potential to spend $100 billion in capital on over 100 projects in the Upstream. Around a quarter of this will go toward developing resources in deepwater, a key piece of our portfolio. However, it is just one piece of our portfolio. Through our geographic diversity and scale, we will continue to be active in all high-potential areas."

ExxonMobil operates in nearly 200 countries and territories and has the largest resource base of any nongovernment energy company, with 72 billion oil-equivalent barrels. This includes 21.6 billion oil-equivalent barrels of proved reserves as well as quantities of discovered resources the company expects to develop in the future. ExxonMobil holds interests in over 750 deepwater blocks totaling some 71 million acres.

The slides from the Foster presentation and an outline of the speech contents may be found on the ExxonMobil website at www.exxonmobil.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Estimates, expectations, targets, and business plans in this release are forward-looking statements. Actual future results, including resource recoveries, production mix, cost savings, project economics, project plans and schedules, and capital spending could differ materially due to changes in market conditions affecting the oil and gas industry, technical or operating factors, and other factors discussed under the heading "Factors Affecting Future Results" included in Item 1 of ExxonMobil's most recent Form 10-K and posted on our website (www.exxonmobil.com).

CONTACT:          ExxonMobil
                  Marcia Zelinsky, 713/656-4376

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