ExxonMobil will only consider M&A if it adds value says CEO
The market for upstream acquisitions is good with low asset values but chief executive Rex Tillerson said the company's criteria was unchanged
ExxonMobil will keep an eye on the market for upstream acquisitions at this time of low asset values but its criteria have not changed, its chief executive Rex Tillerson told the Oil & Money conference in London 7 October. “We are looking for quality assets in terms of people and resources, where we can add value,” he said. Apart from the Anglo-Dutch major Shell bidding for UK BG, there has been little acquisition activity, compared with the price crash at the end of the 90s. It takes a buyer or a seller “a while to sort out the value of a business,” Tillerson said. Owning midstream assets would only be important to ExxonMobil if that would improve the security of its supply, he said. “W
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat






