Exxon CEO Talks Arctic Oil Drilling, Risks, Lessons

AP: Given these inescapable human factors, is the Arctic too fragile to expose to this kind of risk?

Tillerson: Well you could say that about, pick another environment that's important to people, the Gulf Coast estuary environment. We have that challenge anywhere and everywhere. But pick another activity and I could ask the same question. Do you get on an airplane? You are subjecting yourself to human error. Why do you get in your automobile every day?

There's been Arctic development since the 1920s. Imperial Oil, our affiliate in Canada, was the first, in Norman Wells. There's been a lot that we have already done and demonstrated we can do.

AP: You can look for oil almost anywhere in the world. How does the U.S. Arctic compare to other opportunities you have?

Tillerson: The U.S. is important to us but we're not the ones deciding how to go about that. The leasing plan dictates that, the regulatory framework dictates it, and today we find it very difficult to work in the U.S. arctic because of those two factors. Other countries are taking a different view and they are moving ahead.

AP: Can you give an example of why it's so tricky to drill in the Arctic?

Tillerson: It may take you several years to have a good understanding of (the) ocean conditions both at the surface and at the subsurface.


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