XOM slated to be a long-term winner in La Guerre du Petrole and a dividend payer too

Implications: Jad Mouawad reported in the November 16 issue of the New York Times that the oil industry has profited from six years of rising crude prices. Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil (XOM) said that their competitive advantage is greater in a low oil price environment. Still, XOM faces several political dangers in the coming Democrat administration. The president-elect has singled out XOM as a greedy producer. Will the XOM traditional business model survive? The company insists that inasmuch as the need for oil and gas will endure for decades, no logical reason exists to spend money on alternatives like solar and wind. XOM, worth $375 billion, ranks between Austria and Greece as an economic entity. Three principles guide the company: discipline, patience and vision. Engineers control the purse strings and keep operating costs to a bare minimum. John D. Rockefeller, XOM founder, was an accountant but he was obsessed with efficiency. One hundred years later, that philosophy still prevails.

Analysis: In the article, Shell gets a brief mention on page six as having a go at wind energy. But one wonders if XOM would be the great international company that it is today had Royal Dutch Shell (RDS) not been such a formidable competitor. John D. Rockefeller quickly realized that in the world at large, ......

With all of its stress on efficiency, XOM has never lost sight of technological development. Their research centers are on the leading edge of energy investigation. Their recent entry into shale gas development in the Fort Worth basin and more recently the Mako Trough in Hungary are examples of their ability to seize upon new sources of natural gas and expand the technology required to reduce its cost. If the world continues to need energy and it appears that it will, the present unhappy state of affairs in the crude oil markets will be supplanted by a happier era before long.......