05.07.2009

ExxonMobil is the world’s largest integrated oil company (ahead of BP and Royal Dutch Shell). In 1882, John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company, the predecessor of the present ExxonMobil company. Exxon Mobil engages in oil and gas exploration, production, supply, transportation, and marketing worldwide. It has proved reserves of 13.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Exxon Mobil’s 40 refineries in 20 countries have a capacity of producing 6.4 million barrels per day. It has a current (2008) market value of close to $500 billion

The costs, from the point of view of the market, caused to man and his environment, from pollution resulting from electricity generation. In the process of generating electricity, as a by-product of burning fuels, a number of pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere. The principle pollutants include: sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOX), particulates (soot, etc.) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The first three elements are poisonous materials that harm the respiratory system, whilst CO2 causes the greenhouse effect. Based on a report prepared by the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2008, the extraneous costs to the Israeli market for each ton of emissions is as follows: particulates 7061 euro per ton, nitrogen oxide 2865 euro, sulfur dioxide 4947 euro, carbon dioxide 14.83 euro

Additions to an enterprise’s proved reserves that result from (1) extension of the proved acreage of previously discovered (old) reserves through additional drilling in periods subsequent to discovery and (2) discovery of new fields with proved reserves or of new reservoirs of proved reserves in old fields.

Refers to the delivery basis for most traditional long term LNG contracts. Agreed price includes cost of freight and insurance for transporting the LNG by tanker to buyers’ facilities. Usually contrasted with Free On Board (FOB)

The proportion of assets that were funded from borrowing and the proportion funded by shareholders

A real or virtual document representing a legal agreement involving some sort of monetary value. Financial instruments can be classified generally as equity based, representing ownership of the asset, or debt based, representing a loan made by an investor to the owner of the asset. Financial instruments can be thought of as easily tradable packages of capital, each having their own unique characteristics and structure

Governments provide financial incentives in the form of tax benefits (tax reductions, accelerated depreciation, credits) or through grants and subsidies to encourage the production of electricity with renewable fuels

Some financial contracts are also concerned with the physical delivery of the natural gas, like NYMEX gas contracts, but the primary purpose is to manage price risk rather than deliver or receive gas