Six years of relentlessly rising prices have showered the oil industry with record profits even as whipsawing energy costs have left many Americans alternately furious and baffled. Now that the roller coaster ride appears to be screeching to a halt, one corporate giant remains confident it can weather the slowdown and uncertainty better than its rivals. “It's not that we like lower prices, but our competitive advantage is more obvious to people in a low-price environment,” said Rex Tillerson, the chairman and chief executive of Exxon Mobil, the world's largest, mightiest oil company. “But in a high-price environment, our competitive advantage has been quite evident as well.” However undaunted Exxon feels, it's still facing more complicated scenarios than mere price shifts. It's straining to adjust to a host of potentially seismic issues that raise pointed questions about its long-term strategy. Oil reserves are harder to find, resource-rich governments have become more assertive, and global warming concerns have spurred forceful calls to action on environmental matters. Moreover, with the election of Barack Obama, a new chapter is about to open for the country's energy policy. Obama said he wants to move away from oil dependence, and his policies are likely to emphasize conservation, alternative energy sources and new limits on the emissions of greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. The question for Exxon, which Obama repeatedly singled out as an exemplar of corporate greed during the presidential campaign, is whether the model that has served the company so well for so long will keep it competitive - or whether it will still be producing hydrocarbons long after the world has moved away from dirty fuels. Last year, Exxon, which is based in Irving, Texas, celebrated its 125th anniversary, marking a straight line that connects it to John Rockefeller's original Standard Oil Trust before the government broke up the enterprise. While other oil companies try to paint themselves greener, Exxon's executives believe their venerable model has been battle-tested. The company's mantra is unwavering: brutal honesty about the need for oil and gas to power economies for decades to come. “Over the years, there have been many predictions that our industry was in its twilight years, only to be proven wrong,” said Tillerson. “As Mark Twain said, the news of our demise has been greatly exaggerated.” From a purely financial standpoint, there's no doubt that Exxon's business strategy has paid off. Despite the economic turmoil, Exxon is worth about $375 billion.
