Tillerson Choice Raises Questions of Corporate vs National Interest

"It was a business relationship," Yergin said.

"The whole Russian thing is so much front and center now so it's inevitable that those questions be asked but, obviously, if you are a major oil company, you want to go to where your resources (are). You have to replace your reserves," he added.

"If he becomes secretary of state, the interests he will pursue will be U.S. interests. This is an Eagle Scout kind of guy. He was president of the Boy Scouts," he said. "He is a straight arrow. If that's his mission, that's what he'll do."

Trump praised Tillerson, saying on his Twitter account on Saturday: "Whether I choose him or not for "State"- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!"

Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman who has been tapped to serve as White House chief of Staff, praised Tillerson's relationship with Putin.

"... the fact that he actually has a relationship with people like Vladimir Putin and others across the globe is something that ... we shouldn't be embarrassed by it. It's something that I think could be a huge advantage to the United States," Priebus said on ABC This Week.

However, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, a senior Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would weigh Tillerson's nomination, was unsparing in his criticism of the possible appointment.

"Reports that Rex Tillerson could be nominated to be our nation's top diplomat (are) alarming and absurd," he said. "With Rex Tillerson as our secretary of state the Trump administration would be guaranteeing Russia has a willing accomplice in the president's cabinet guiding our nation's foreign policy."

Republicans will hold more seats, 52, in the Senate than the 51 they will need to confirm Tillerson. But they will have only 10 of the 19 seats in the Foreign Relations Committee, so it will only take one Republican dissenter there to endanger the nomination.

At least one Republican committee member, Rubio, has already expressed reservations.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Tillerson would be one of the few people selected for major roles in the Trump administration to believe that human activity causes climate change.

After Trump's election, Exxon came out in support of the Paris Climate Agreement. It has also advocated for a carbon tax and internally factors in a theoretical price on carbon as it weighs manufacturing and exploration costs of projects.

But some environmental groups are alarmed at the prospect of Exxon's CEO as the country's top diplomat.