The $1.1 billion Hoover-Diana deepwater drilling platform weighs in at 63,000 tons and is the size of an 83 story building. When it was deployed in 1999 in the Gulf of Mexico, in water almost a mile (4,800 feet) deep, it set a world water-depth record for a floating drilling and production platform with subsea tiebacks.

Other world-class projects that are breaking new ground in the industry include the Cerro Negro heavy oil project in Venezuela, the Singapore Chemical Complex, the RasGas and QatarGas LNG projects in Qatar, and the industry-leading Speedpass fast-fueling system now used by 4.7 million customers at Exxon, Mobil, and Esso service stations worldwide.

We spend more than a half billion dollars on research and development each year. We have more than 1,500 scientists working on proprietary solutions like our SCANfining catalyst process that produces low sulfur gasoline. We're also working with major automotive manufacturers like GM and Toyota to develop clean-fuel technology that can be used in fuel cell powered automobiles.

On the horizon are the multi-billion dollar Saudi Arabian Natural Gas Initiatives, with ExxonMobil serving as project leader and operator for two of three development projects. Also planned are world-scale refining and petrochemical complexes in China through strategic alliances with China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation.