A great time to be in exploration The Lamp profiles Steve Greenlee, ExxonMobil Exploration Company president, and how the corporation is competing for the world’s best oil and gas opportunities.
When did you first develop an interest in geoscience? Actually, my passion was to be- come an oceanographer. My dad, a dentist, loved getting outdoors for fishing, surfing and skiing, so we spent a lot of time on the Jersey Shore. Early on, I enjoyed reading books on just about anything that had to do with the ocean, and if you had asked me a question about coral reefs or ocean currents, I probably could have talked for hours. In planning for college, I discovered the best way to follow my passion was through geology. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in geology from Duke University, I pursued a master’s in oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. What led you to ExxonMobil? I was writing my master’s thesis on the science of seismic stratigraphy. The details of that science were invented at Exxon Production Research (EPR) under the leadership of a fascinating
geologist named Peter Vail. I met him at a conference on sea-level changes and got to see his North Sea research. I subsequently de- cided Exxon was the place for me. I started at EPR in Houston in 1981, planning to eventually return to graduate school for a Ph.D. and work in academia. But we were conducting seismic stratigraphy workshops all over the world and developing lots of new concepts. It was so much fun that I couldn’t believe I was getting paid to do it. I remained at EPR for 12 years. What assignments followed? My first full-time move out of research was a dramatic one. In 1993, the new Exxon Ven- tures (CIS) Inc. assigned me as a supervisor in western Siberia. I next worked in Kazakhstan before moving to New Orleans as a manager for Exxon’s Gulf of Mexico production unit. After the merger with Mobil, assignments followed in Brazil, Saudi Arabia,
Texas and Asia-Pacific before I returned to research as presi- dent of ExxonMobil Upstream Research in Houston. In 2010, I became president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company. How would you summarize Exploration’s function? Our job is to discover new sources of oil and gas that are better than what is already in ExxonMobil’s industry-leading resource base, now estimated at 92 billion oil-equivalent barrels. By better, I mean they have the potential to generate a higher economic return over the life of the resource for all stakeholders. We’re not just in the business of replacing what has been pro- duced. We are after high-value opportunities. How well is ExxonMobil positioned to carry this out? We are better positioned than ever to identify and pursue the greatest-value opportunities. This
is partly due to how the com- pany’s resource-acquisition effort is structured today. Exploration is focused primarily on discovering new fields rather than its tradi- tional responsibility for adding all resources to the corporation’s portfolio. ExxonMobil Upstream Ventures focuses on securing in- terests in discovered but undevel- oped oil and gas resources. The corporation’s XTO Energy affiliate specializes in North American unconventional resources mainly in shale plays. How does this provide benefit? From a corporate standpoint, it benefits us by allowing each busi- ness line to focus on a specialized area or role. Our competitors might be good explorers, or good at negotiating acquisitions, or experts in unconventional plays. But we can pursue all three at the same time. With our three organizations working together while focused on our individual specialized roles, we are in a
Story by Mike Long Photography by Robert Seale
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