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Exploration
ExxonMobil’s exploration strategy is to identify, evaluate, pursue, and capture the highest-quality resource opportunities at the lowest cost in industry. The strength of our global organization allows us to explore for and capture all resource types regardless of life cycle, across all geological and geographical environments, using industry-leading technology and capabilities. These opportunities include:
- New exploration plays and concepts that typically have high uncertainty but large potential to provide significant long-term resource growth;
- Unconventional resources such as shale gas, tight gas, coal bed methane, heavy oil, and oil sands that can provide profitable, long-plateau production volumes;
- Further exploration of established hydrocarbon provinces and mature plays that provide near-term resource additions and production; and,
- Discovered fields that are undeveloped or partially developed.
ExxonMobil’s disciplined, systematic exploration process consistently delivers an industry-leading portfolio of highly prospective opportunities that provide long-term resource additions and organic production growth. Our global approach ensures a broad exposure to high-quality opportunities, from conventional by-the-bit exploration to discovered resources that may be integrated with other business lines. The combination of world-class technical expertise and an extensive global exploration database provides a distinct competitive advantage in the identification, evaluation, pursuit, and capture of new opportunities.
We use our unique geoscience capabilities and understanding of the global hydrocarbon endowment to identify and prioritize all quality resources. Once identified, opportunities are assessed and screened on a rigorous, globally consistent basis for technical and economic viability, as well as materiality. Only the most robust opportunities are selected for further evaluation and investment. Our systematic approach to exploration has resulted in the successful capture of numerous new, high-potential resource opportunities each year. In 2009, ExxonMobil successfully captured new opportunities in nine countries.
At year-end 2009, ExxonMobil’s net exploration acreage totaled 72 million acres in 33 countries. Since 2005, our total exploration acreage has increased by approximately 7 percent. This strong acreage position provides a high-quality, geographically and geologically diverse portfolio of opportunities to underpin future resource additions and production growth.
