By GuruFocus, Contributor Yacktman Fund, run by legendary fund manager Don Yacktman, has reported its second quarter portfolio. The fund is one of the best performing funds over the last decade. Over of the past 10 years, the fund has gained 10.6% a year, while the S&P 500 gained 7.2% a year. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Filed under: Energy, Company News, Scandals and Lawsuits
By LYNNE TUOHY
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) was found liable Tuesday in a long-running lawsuit over groundwater contamination caused by the gasoline additive MTBE, and the jury ordered the oil giant to pay $236 million to New Hampshire to clean it up.
The jurors reached their verdicts in less than 90 minutes, after sitting through nearly three months of testimony in the longest state trial in New Hampshire history.
The panel awarded the state the $236 million it was seeking to monitor and remediate groundwater contaminated by MTBE. The chemical was added to gasoline to reduce smog but was found to travel farther and faster in groundwater than gasoline without the additive.
“We appreciate the jurors’ service during this long trial, but erroneous rulings prevented them from hearing all the evidence and deprived us of a fair trial,” said Exxon Mobil lawyer David Lender.
Jurors found that Exxon Mobil was negligent in adding MTBE to its gasoline and that it was a defective product. They also found Exxon Mobil liable for failing to warn distributors and consumers about its contaminating characteristics.
The jury determined that the hazards of using MTBE gasoline were not obvious to state officials, who opted into the reformulated gasoline program in 1991 to help reduce smog in the state’s four southernmost counties.
Lawyers for Exxon Mobil argued the company used MTBE to meet federal Clean Air Act mandates to reduce air pollution and should not be held liable for sites contaminated by unnamed third parties, such as junk yard owners and independent gas station owners who allowed gas containing MTBE to get into the ground.
The state says more than 600 wells in New Hampshire are known to be contaminated with MTBE and an expert witness estimated the number could exceed 5,000.
Jurors had more than 400 exhibits to sift through, including memos and reports dating back decades. Those memos included some dating back to 1984 in which Exxon Mobil researchers warned against using MTBE gasoline.
Jessica Grant, representing the state, said they were pleased the jury held Exxon Mobil accountable for widespread ground water contamination.
“The finding of Exxon’s negligence is particularly important because it shows the jury understood that this problem could have been avoided,” she said.
Jurors, via court personnel, said they did not want to talk to the media about their verdict.
Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil was the sole remaining defendant of the 26 the state sued in 2003. Citgo was a co-defendant when the trial began in January, but it began settlement negotiations with the state and withdrew from the trial. Citgo ultimately settled for $16 million, bringing the total the state has collected in MTBE settlement money to $136 million.
%Gallery-183217%
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Carroll, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
If you were hoping to end your investing week in the green, think again. Stocks are swinging sharply lower, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has found a home in the red today following March’s disappointing jobs numbers, which dropped precipitously from February. As of 2:25 p.m. EDT, the blue-chip index has fallen 85 points, or 0.58%, with many component stocks shedding 1% or more. With the market on a roll this year, investors have been looking for a correction, and today they got one.
Jobs can’t get a grip
Payrolls added a mere 88,000 jobs in March — the lowest monthly gain in nine months and more than 100,000 short of analysts’ projections. That was also a huge drop-off from February’s gain of nearly 270,000 jobs. This report isn’t the end of the world: Many economists have predicted that the economy’s fast start to 2013 would slow down in the middle of the year, and the country still has years of growth ahead of it before it reaches pre-recession unemployment levels. However, it’s a disappointing blow to many who were encouraged by signs that the economy was accelerating its comeback.
The disappointment has hit Dow stocks hard, and none more so than American Express . The financial firm has lost 2.6% so far today. Lower employment translates to lower consumer spending as Americans tighten their wallets — an outcome far from ideal for American Express. The stock has still picked up more than 13.5% since the start of 2013, but a sluggish middle of the year could see shares drop off from their recent highs as credit card spending slows. If the economy bounces back soon, however, American Express will be poised to rise right along with it.
Home Depot is another stock that has done well this year — shares have risen more than 11.3% since the start of 2013 — and is being hit hard today. The home retail stock is down 1% so far. Although a sluggish economy is not good for anyone, Home Depot has less to fear: With residential construction on the rise and housing starts picking up fast, this company’s well-positioned to capitalize on the rebound in the housing market.
Big Oil‘s on the downswing as well today. Shares of Chevron and Exxon-Mobil have fallen 0.7% and 1%, respectively. Both companies are recovering from headaches. Chevron recently announced that it has finally finished repairing a damaged refinery in Richmond, Calif., that was hit by a fire last year — an incident that cost the company around $1 million in fines from state safety regulators. Still, that’s much better than Exxon’s current plight. The company pledged to cover the costs of cleaning up thousands of barrels of oil that spilled in Arkansas. This won’t hit Exxon’s pocketbook too hard, but it has left a smudge on the company’s reputation.
One stock has managed to beat the odds today, however: Aluminum manufacturer Alcoa …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Matt Cantor 
Ten surviving “oiled ducks” and two dead ones have turned up following a pipeline leak in Arkansas , Exxon Mobil says. “I’m an animal lover, a wildlife lover, as probably most of the people here are,” says a local judge. “We don’t like to see that.” The air around the town… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Filed under: Currency, Exchange Rates, Economic Indicators, Economic Recovery, Economy
By STEVE ROTHWELL
NEW YORK — The dollar is rising again.
After a drop last autumn, the U.S. dollar has climbed 5 percent against other currencies over the past two months, reaching the highest level since August.
The main reason is the recovery in the U.S. economy. Although growth is still weak, the outlook for the U.S. is better than elsewhere in the developed world. Europe is stuck in a recession and struggling to control its debt. Japan is trying to push down the value of the yen to boost exports and end deflation.
A strong dollar helps Americans by making imports cheaper and curbing inflation, but it can also hurt U.S. companies. Technology companies have become increasingly reliant on overseas sales, and a stronger dollar reduces the value of their overseas earnings.
The impact of the dollar’s appreciation is starting to show up in earnings reports. The insurer Aflac, which does much of its business in Japan, says its earnings were hurt as the yen fell against the U.S. currency. Procter & Gamble, which makes Gillette razors and Crest toothpaste, said the stronger dollar was holding back its sales growth.
Many analysts predict that the dollar will continue to rise. Here’s a look at what a stronger dollar means for investors.
Tough for Tech and Materials Makers
A rising dollar could spell trouble for U.S. companies that make software and gadgets, as well as companies that make basic materials like aluminum.
The tech industry relies heavily on foreign sales for growth. About 56 percent of its revenue comes from outside the U.S., according to research by RBC Capital Markets. As the dollar strengthens, U.S. goods become more expensive overseas, discouraging buyers.
Investors worry that could slow business — and profits. As a result, technology companies are tied with materials makers as the worst industry in the S&P 500 this year, rising just 4.2 percent, compared with 10 percent for the overall market. Business software giant Oracle said its most recent earnings report on March 20 that the rising dollar lowered its earnings by about two percent.
The materials industry, which includes Dow Chemical and miner Cliffs Natural Resources, also gets more than half of its sales overseas.
“We would be wary of sectors that derive a lot of their sales overseas, given that fact that we expect the dollar’s strength to remain,” says Kristen Scarpa, an investment strategist at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management.
Commodity Concerns
When the dollar appreciates, it makes commodities like oil and metals — which are priced only in dollars — more expensive for customers who buy them with other currencies like the euro and the yen.
That can weaken demand for commodities, hurting the profits of the companies that produce them, like oil producers Exxon Mobil, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Dan Carroll, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Stocks are back on the upswing following yesterday’s dip, and investors have to be happy with the gains the Dow Jones Industrial Average is hauling in. The index has picked up 80 points, or 0.6%, to move past the 14,500 mark as of 2:15 p.m. EDT. More than two-thirds of member stocks are in the green, and Wall Street‘s doing a good job so far of ignoring the eurozone’s ongoing problems to cap off the week with solid gains. Let’s check out the biggest movers.
HP on the move again
Chronically unstable tech stock Hewlett-Packard ranks at the top of the Dow by a large lead today, with shares up 2.4%. Shareholders recently re-elected all of the company’s board members, who authorized a 10% dividend increase going forward and plan to spend more than $100 million more for the higher payout each year. With the company still in danger from the declining PC market and facing an improving but still-struggling turnaround, investors have to question whether or not a higher dividend is the right use of the company’s money.
Income investors sure won’t mind, but considering this stock‘s penchant for significantly rising or falling even on days with no news, most investors would be better off looking for a less risky pick for their portfolio — particularly considering that HP‘s shares have soared dangerously by more than 48% to start the year.
Wal-Mart‘s another stock on the up today, ranking among the top Dow leaders by pulling in gains of 1.4%. While there’s little news out on the retailer today, the stock‘s following its sector higher following strong quarterly results from several fellow retailers such as Nike and Tiffany. Shareholders have to be happy, particularly after delayed tax returns took a bite out of sales in early February. The company expects flat sales this quarter as consumers struggle with rising gas prices and the payroll tax hike.
Big Oil stocks are also on the rise today. Shares of Exxon-Mobil and Chevron have recorded respective gains of 1% and 0.6%. Russia‘s major oil giant, Rosneft, has leaped past both companies, however, recently taking over the title of the largest publicly traded oil and gas company after acquiring TNK-BP this week. Still, Exxon and Chevron have benefited from rising demand for natural gas worldwide, particularly as prices climb. Considering that gasoline prices are also skyrocketing, these companies are in good positions to keep shareholders happy.
Is a turnaround on the way?
The massive wave of mobile computing has done much to unseat the major players in the PC market, including venerable technology names like Hewlett-Packard. However, HP is rapidly shifting its strategy under the leadership of CEO Meg Whitman. But does this make HP one of the least-appreciated turnaround stories on the market, or is this a minor detour on its road to irrelevance? The Motley Fool’s technology analyst details exactly what investors need to know about …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Filed under: Earnings, Market News, Banking, Personal Finance, Industry News, Consumer Goods, Economy, Investing
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a new high this week, and the new closing high is 14,253.77. We originally came up with a top price target for the DJIA of 14,590 for 2013 based upon our own DJIA analysis and methodology. We now expect that number to be surpassed, even if we have not officially raised the target. The reality is that by our take it will only require the top seven of the 30 DJIA stocks to perform this year for the DJIA to hit 15,000.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) will likely be the seven stocks of the 30 DJIA components that lead the index to 15,000. At issue is that the DJIA is a price-weighted index that does not care about the market capitalization. These seven DJIA stocks account for 43% of the entire weighting of the 30 DJIA components.
For instance, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has a $245 billion market cap, yet its $23.59 share price generates a weighing of only 1.27%. Then you have 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) with a 5.63% weighting because its price is $104.45, and United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) has a 4.9% weighting in the DJIA because its price is $89.13. Combined, two these companies have a market cap of $159 billion. So GE is worth almost 150% of the market cap, but its weighting in the DJIA at 1.27% compares to the combined weighting of 10.73% for 3M and United Tech. Now you know how silly the DJIA can be as an index, even if investors are usually referring to the DJIA when they say “the market.”
If you took the bottom seven DJIA components, you barely get a 7% combined weighting in the DJIA. These stocks could all double in a static scenario, where the other stocks remain the same, and you would barely get close to the 15,000 mark.
A review at IndexArb.com shows just how much these weightings matter, with a cumulative weighting after each component:
1) IBM 11.13; 11.13
2) Chevron 6.35; 17.48
3) 3M 5.63; 23.11
4) McDonald’s 5.16; 28.27
5) United Technologies 4.90; 33.17
6) Caterpillar 4.86; 38.03
7) Exxon Mobil 4.83; 42.86
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is at $206.53, against a 52-week range of $181.85 to $211.79. The consensus target price is $225.75, implying an expected gain of 9.3%. IBM‘s dividend yield is 1.7% but has been rising, and the company keeps buying back stock. Warren Buffett has bought a large stake that is likely to rise as well.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) trades at $117.93, against a 52-week range of $95.73 to $118.53. Its consensus target price is $124.51, implying upside of 5.6%, and it has a 3.1% …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Filed under: Oil & Gas Industry
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) was just featured as one of our seven DJIA stocks that would lead the DJIA to 15,000 and the company is delivering its production and capital spending estimates to analysts today. The oil and gas giant projects that its new major project start-ups will deliver 1 million oil-equivalent barrels over the next five years. What the company did not show you is that its proved reserves has a current snapshot market value of more than $2.2 trillion.
CEO Rex Tillerson tells analysts that the company’s crude oil production and other liquids should increase by 4% per year between 2013 and 2017, based on the new production analysis of 28 major oil and gas projects. Tillerson also said that 24 of those projects are liquids or liquids-linked projects. Twenty-two major projects will start production over the next three years, including an expansion of the Kearl Oil Sands Project in Alberta, Canada, and a liquefied natural gas export project in Papua New Guinea.
In a presentation to investment analysts, Tillerson said the company has a “growing global portfolio of high-quality resource opportunities with exploration success most recently in Romania and Tanzania.” Tillerson also said that the company is planning to more than double its exploration acreage in a range of proven and emerging locations that includes Russia by name to feed its inventory in the coming years. Its capital spending plan is to invest roughly $190 billion over the next five years.
Exxon Mobil said that it replaced 115% of 2012 production and has replaced 174% of its crude oil and other liquids, making it the 19th consecutive year the company replaced more than 100% of its production, with proved reserve additions of 1.8 billion oil-equivalent barrels.
Here is the figure that you need to know about the largest oil company: its proved reserves are at 25.2 billion oil equivalent barrels. Imagine what this translates to in real dollars at $90.00 a barrel oil. That is $2.268 trillion worth of oil in its proved reserves.
Exxon Mobil‘s market cap is $403 billion. If Exxon Mobil was merely treated as a closed-end fund, investors would say that the company trades at only about 18% of its net asset value. Things are far more complicated than that, but it is an interesting way for investors to look at this. If you just consider what Exxon Mobil is expected to make in profits this year, Exxon trades at about 11 times earnings. That is the real way to look at the company.
We are sticking with our prediction that both Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) will hike their dividends in the coming weeks.
Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Annual Report, Oil & Gas Tagged: CVX, XOM
Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Prabhat Sakya, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
LONDON — A year ago, I wrote the article “A Year of Shocks for BP.” A year later, it has been a year of recovery for BP .
The company has been busy paying off the liabilities after the Deepwater Horizon accident. Let’s not mince our words: This oil spill had a devastating effect on the company, causing the share price to crash, but since the accident BP has been working very hard to come back from this.
Recovering from the oil spill
I see a couple of phases to BP‘s recovery. First, it has to sell off non-core assets and pay off all the costs associated with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Sorting this out has been its first priority.
The company has made good progress in this, although the oil spill has been hugely expensive for the business. Although the company has travelled far down this road, there is further to go.
Once the current trial in New Orleans is over, BP may finally be able to draw this tumultuous chapter in its history to a close.
Then seeking out growth
Then there is the second phase to the British oil group’s recovery: seeking out growth for the future. The difficulty that BP faces, along with other independent oil companies such as Shell and Exxon-Mobil, is a world of steadily decreasing oil reserves.
The world’s oil may not yet be running out, but what remains of the world’s oil is getting ever more difficult and more expensive to extract. The simple question that every oil major faces is: how can it replace its oil reserves cost effectively? It’s not an easy task.
The added complication is that much of the remaining global oil reserves are held by governments, not independent oil companies. That’s why, while BP has been trying hard to squeeze every drop of oil from places such as the North Sea and the Gulf of the Mexico, it has also been grappling with the great bear to the East.
Grappling with the great bear
BP‘s tussles with Russia have been well documented. A few years ago, BP chief executive Bob Dudley was chased out of Russia in a battle with the Russian partners in the joint venture TNK-BP.
But Dudley has worked tirelessly to repair relations with Russia, and recently it has been paying off. Russian prime minister Dimitri Medvedev has asked Dudley to sit on the board of Russia‘s national oil company Rosneft.
BP is finalizing a multibillion pound merger with Rosneft whereby the Russian company will take over BP‘s holding in TNK-BP, while in return BP will gain a 20% stake in Rosneft. I see this as a good deal for the British oil major.
BP‘s recovery is well under way. Overall, I see BP as a decent buy.
BP‘s low P/E ratio and high and rising dividend yield could make it a worthy addition to your income portfolio. We at the Fool are firm believers that high-yield shares should be at the core of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
When Venezuela seized billions of dollars in assets from Exxon Mobil and other foreign companies, Chinese state banks and investors didn’t blink. Over the past five years they have loaned Venezuela more than $35 billion.
Elsewhere around the Caribbean, as hotels were struggling to stay afloat in the global economic slowdown, the Chinese response was to bankroll the biggest resort under construction in the Western Hemisphere — a massive hotel, condominium and casino complex in the Bahamas just a few miles from half-empty resorts.
All over the world, from Latin America to the South Pacific, a cash-flush China is funding projects that others won’t, seemingly less concerned by the conventional wisdom of credit ratings and institutions such as the World Bank.
___
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story is part of “China‘s Reach,” a project tracking China‘s influence on its trading partners over three decades and exploring how that is changing business, politics and daily life. Keep up with AP‘s reporting on China‘s Reach, and join the conversation about it, using the hashtag (hash)APChinaReach on Twitter.
___
The Chinese money is breathing life into government infrastructure projects that otherwise might have died for lack of financing. For commercial projects such as the Caribbean resort, China is filling a gap left by Western investors retrenching after the 2008 financial crisis.
But some in the Bahamas worry what will happen if the sprawling Baha Mar project fails. They picture an economy saturated with hotels, dragged down by an expensive Chinese white elephant. Likewise, the infrastructure loans are loading financially shaky countries with more debt and letting them avoid economic reforms that other lenders would likely have demanded.
“The Chinese play by other rules,” said Kevin Gallagher, a Boston University international relations professor who has studied Chinese lending to Latin America. “We’ll give you financing with no conditions, and we’ll finance things the International Monetary Fund won’t fund, things others won’t fund anymore, like big infrastructure projects. It allows countries to shop around, which has good and bad sides.”
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez talked up his independence last year while highlighting another $4 billion in Chinese loans, part of a wave of money that has translated into new railways, utilities and other projects.
Like another crosstown oil and gas exploration company based in Oklahoma City, Sandridge Energy (SD) is exhibiting the same shareholder inimical corporate governance practices. The good news is the abusive reign of Chesapeake Energy (CHK) king Aubrey McClendon last week came to an abrupt end. The bad news is that Sandridge founder and CEO Tom Ward (also a CHK co-founder) continues presiding unchecked as an autocrat. Like at CHK, Mr. Ward instituted his own analogue version of Aubrey?s Founders Well Participation Program (FWPP), the Sandridge Executive Well Participation Program (SEWPP). While Aubrey got to cherry pick and invest in a 2.5% interest in CHK wells, Mr. Ward felt even more generosity towards himself, upping his take to 3%. Like Aubrey in the past, Mr. Ward is obscenely overpaid. Mr. Ward presides over a sycophantic board that obsequiously bows to Caesars commands. Thanks in large part to the activism of Carl Icahn, Chesapeake, being free of Aubrey and most of his cabal of board members now has a chance to ?right the ship? and create value for shareholders. Now come along hedge fund TPG Axon and CEO Dinakar Singh. Mr. Singh?s hedge fund has acquired a 6.7% stake in the common shares of Sandridge and has undertaken a ?consent solicitation? to replace the entire Sandridge board and the subsequent ouster of Mr. Ward. Sandridge laughably claims the TPG Axon director slate lacks requisite energy experience. Each of the seven potential directors have held high positions at companies like BP, El Paso Eastern Pipeline, Oryx Energy or currently serve on boards of major NYSE companies such as Kraft Foods and AOL. The only commonality of current Sandridge board of directors is a blind obeisance to a CEO who compensates each one around $375,000 annually or for perspective, $80 to $90,000 more than is received by directors of integrated giant Exxon-Mobil, a company over 130 times its market capitalization. Put another way, in just a little more than every two days, Exxon takes in more in revenue than the entire market cap of Sandridge. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
Exxon Mobil PLC has warned that it won’t be able to meet its production forecast for Qua Iboe crude oil pumped from Nigeria due to pipeline repair work.
The oil major’s Nigerian subsidiary said in a statement late Thursday it had declared a “force majeure” warning for shipments of its Qua Iboe crude oil — meaning the company cannot cover the promised supply from the field.
The company said it was working to repair a section of a major pipeline and that production continues in fields which aren’t affected by the damaged pipeline.
The statement did not say when the lines would be running at capacity again.
Nigeria, which produces more than 2 million of barrels of oil a day, is a top crude oil supplier to the U.S.
By Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff It seems like Big Oil can weather most economic storms. In a difficult fourth quarter, with flat oil prices and a shale boom in the U.S. keeping natural gas in place, with the world’s largest economy contracting and China slowing, Exxon Mobil and Chevron handily beat profit expectations, despite mediocre revenue numbers and decent production figures. With mixed upstream results, both U.S. oil behemoths derived downstream strength from previously troubling refining margins coupled with asset sales; and, as has been the case for some time, chemicals continue to deliver.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Narrative Science Analysts have become increasingly bullish on Exxon Mobil (XOM) in the month leading up to the company’s fourth quarter earnings announcement scheduled for Friday, February 1, 2013. The consensus earnings per share estimate has moved up from $1.96 a share to the current expectation of earnings of $1.99 a share.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Markets
By Agustino Fontevecchia, Forbes Staff In an action-packed day on Wall Street that featured a verbal brawl between hedge fund titans Bill Ackman and Carl Icahn, the S&P 500 managed to close above 1,500 for the first time since 2007, before the financial crisis. The index is up a hefty 5.4% this year, despite the precipitous decline in Apple’s stock price, which lost its crown as largest publicly traded company to Exxon Mobil.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By John Johnson 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By Eric Savitz, Forbes Staff Apple shares this morning have set a new 52-week low – and adding insult to injury, Apple now has given up its crown as the world’s most valuable company back to Exxon Mobil.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Iraq‘s Kurdish regional government says its president has held talks with the head of Exxon Mobil amid signs that the energy giant may be exploring new options with the Kurds’ rival, the central government in Baghdad.
The Kurds said late Tuesday that regional President Massoud Barzani met with Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson in Switzerland and discussed company activities. It gave no further details.
Exxon infuriated Baghdad in 2011 by signing a deal with the Kurds to hunt for oil in their region and in nearby disputed territories.
Tillerson’s talks followed a rare meeting Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Exxon had planned to sell a key stake in Iraq‘s south and focus instead on the Kurdish contract, though Monday’s talks prompted speculation it is reconsidering those plans.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Iraq‘s government says the head of Exxon Mobil has met with the prime minister to discuss the company’s Iraq plans, which have angered Baghdad.
The meeting Monday in Baghdad comes as tensions rise between Iraq‘s Kurdish region and the central government over oil rights.
Exxon infuriated Baghdad by agreeing with the Kurds to hunt for oil in their largely autonomous region in late 2011. That pact includes exploration of land claimed by both the Kurds and Arabs.
The Irving, Texas-based firm has been planning to pull out of its stake in Iraq‘s 8.6-billion-barrel West Qurna-1 oil field and focus instead on the Kurdish contract.
The statement says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Exxon Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson discussed the company’s activities and working conditions in Iraq.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
