Fitch Ratings has affirmed the following ratings of Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil):
--Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'AAA';
--Senior Unsecured Debt at 'AAA';
--Commercial Paper at 'F1+';
--Short-Term IDR at 'F1+';
The Rating Outlook is Stable.
The ratings reflect the unsurpassed depth, breadth, and quality of ExxonMobil's asset portfolio and strong competitive position in all parts of the integrated oil chain; its best-in-class operational performance; disciplined returns-based investment focus; very strong cash flow generation capability; and historically conservative use of the balance sheet.
On the upstream side, the company has a large proven reserve base of approximately 22.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) and production of approximately 4.1 million boe per day. ExxonMobil's latest three-year FD&A costs were a solid $10.89/boe, while three-year reserve replacement on an all-in basis was 78% including sales and 95% excluding sales, as calculated by Fitch. Downstream, ExxonMobil is the largest refiner in the world, with approximately 6.3 million barrels per day of refining capacity in 38 refineries located across 21 countries. The marketing arm of the segment sells gasoline and other fuels at numerous stations worldwide. The company is also a worldwide leader in the chemicals business, and a significant portion of its petrochemicals and lubes capacity is integrated with existing refinery facilities.
Overall, the upstream component of ExxonMobil provides the bulk of the company's earnings and cash flow.
In financial terms, the company's conservative financial strategy is evident when examining ExxonMobil's balance sheet. As of March 31, 2008, the company had $40.9 billion of cash and cash equivalents, which exceeded its balance sheet debt of approximately $10 billion by over four times. ExxonMobil's strong cash flows and very low leverage translates into among the most robust credit metrics in the industry and across the corporate sector. For 2007, E&P debt/proven reserves (excluding equity reserves and allocating 28% of debt to other operations) was just $0.52/boe, according to Fitch calculations. As of March 31, 2008, EBITDA/interest coverage was 76.4 times (x), while debt/EBITDA was just 0.1x. Free cash flow was $35.2 billion and total assets were $258.2 billion.
ExxonMobil is the world's largest publicly traded integrated oil and gas company with additional interests in petrochemicals and power generation. The company is active in more than 200 countries and territories and had a worldwide regular employee count of 80,800 as of Dec. 31, 2007.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. The ratings above have been initiated by Fitch as a service to investors. The issuer did not participate in the rating process other than through the medium of its public disclosure.
Contacts:
Mark Sadeghian, CFA, +1-312-368-2090
Sean
T. Sexton, CFA, +1-312-368-3130
Media Relations, New York
Brian
Bertsch, +1-212-908-0549
