HOUSTON, Apr. 23 -- ExxonMobil Corp., Irving, Tex., Monday forecast pre-tax savings from its merger will exceed $7 billion by 2002, compared with the company's initial estimate of merger savings of $2.8 billion by next year.
ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Lee Raymond talked with investors and the media in New York City along with participants via teleconference and the Internet.
For 2000, ExxonMobil reported record earnings of $17.7 billion, record cash flow of almost $29 billion, and a rate of return on capital of 20.6%.
"ExxonMobil's long-term focus on efficiency, capital productivity, and investment discipline has allowed us to generate a return on capital that exceeds our competitors by an average of 3%," Raymond said.
For the first quarter 2001, ExxonMobil reported earnings, excluding merger effects, of $5 billion, or $1.44/diluted share, up from $3.35 billion, or 95¢ a diluted share, for the same period last year.
"ExxonMobil will continue to focus on operating and financial discipline, a strategy that has allowed the company to increase annual dividend payments for 18 consecutive years and has helped ExxonMobil stock outperform the S&P 500 by an average of 3%/year over the past 30 years," Raymond said.
He expects ExxonMobil's capital investment to increase by 15-20% in 2001 and another 10% next year.
Most of ExxonMobil's increased investment is in the upstream segment. Spending on major development projects is accelerating, and Raymond said ExxonMobil's capital investments to increase production are likely to total $100 billion for the decade.
These investments involve projects in almost every key exploration and production area in the world, including the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, the Caspian region, and West Africa.
ExxonMobil has 39 major upstream projects under way to develop more than 5.1 billion net boe of resources. An additional 49 projects are in the early planning stage with the potential to develop up to an additional 9 billion net boe.
