Exxon (XOM) CEO Says Oil Should be $70 a Barrel at Highest

Exxon (NYSE:XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson said last week the price of oil per barrel should be somewhere from $60 to $70 a barrel, but is higher because of major oil companies using futures contracts to lock in current high prices. He also cited the large amount of trading by quantitative hedge funds as another reason.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude for June delivery on Friday settled at $99.65 a barrel, up 68 cents, or 0.69 percent, after trading in a range of $97.09 to $100.70.

For the week, front-month crude climbed $2.47, or 2.5 percent.

ICE Brent for June delivery settled at $113.83 a barrel, up 85 cents, or 0.75 percent, after trading in a range of $111.72 to $114.92. The Brent crude contract for July delivery was at 66 cents, or 0.6 percent higher on Friday, at $112.99. Last week, Brent crude jumped $4.70, or 4.3 percent.

The U.S. dollar index was up 0.8 percent higher at $75.72 as the euro was down 1 percent against the dollar at $1.411. On Friday, European officials said that Greece, Ireland and Portugal's sovereign debt problems may be worse than previously believed.

NYMEX June gasoline settled at $3.0744 a gallon, up 1.05 cents, or 0.34 percent, after trading in a range of $3.0342 to $3.1388.

For the week, front-month RBOB fell 1.57 cents, or 0.5 percent.

NYMEX June heating oil closed at $2.9422 a gallon, rising 2.85 cents, or 1 percent.

Front-month heating oil for last week was up 9.65 cents.

ExxonMobil closed Friday at $80.87, falling $0.18, or 0.22 percent.

Exxon's (XOM) Tillerson Likes Future of Natural Gas

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO and Chairman Rex Tillerson says that even though oil prices have been skyrocketing (CLCV1) 110.60, he still likes the acquisition of XTO Energy they made, even though it could pressure the company in the short term.

Tillerson sees natural gas demand growing by 60 percent by 2030.

Concerning XTO he says, "I think the timing was good from our perspective. The current conditions were not unexpected by us," adding Exxon is "happy in the resource we have and in the organization we acquired as well."

He's right. If Exxon had waited until the inevitable rise in natural gas prices, who knows what it would have had to have paid for XTO at that time. He bought it at the time when natural gas supply was high and prices were low. Even under those conditions it cost Exxon $30 billion for XTO.

Tillerson concluded, "It’s part of my responsibility that we’re giving good value to the shareholders. I think we have done everything that is appropriate to do in terms of making sure people understand the steps we’ve taken to position the company to deliver that kind of long-term shareholder value."

Exxon closed Thursday at $85.76, gaining $0.58, or 0.68 percent.

BP (BP) Management At Fault Says Exxon's (XOM) Tillerson

At a company analyst meeting in New York, Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson blamed the BP (BP) oil spill disaster on the management of the company, saying it was primarily their fault.

Tillerson said, "It was a breakdown of management oversight. When you do things the proper way these kind of things do not happen."

This was after BP Chief Executive Officer Robert Dudley said at a recent energy conference that the Gulf oil spill wasn't a "one-in-a-million occurrence" and industry-wide changes were needed.

Tillerson blasted those comments, saying Dudley did the industry "a great disservice" in making those assertions.

Dudley continues to say BP didn't act in a negligent manner, even as criminal and civil investigations are being opened.

BP closed Wednesday at $47.41, down $0.40, or 0.84 percent. Exxon closed at $84.38, down $0.22, or 0.26 percent.

Exxon (XOM) CEO Sees Oil Prices Entering Dangerous Zone

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO Rex Tillerson says at this time the rising price of oil is still not doing too much damage to the economy or American consumer, but as it approaches $4 a gallon, it will definitely have a detrimental effect.

At this time oil is at close to $104 a barrel, with the national average for gasoline standing at $3.52 a gallon. And the price is expected to increase through spring and into summer.

Citing the last time gasoline prices hit $4 a gallon, Tillerson said he saw driving and spending habits of consumers changing at that point. Many in the tourism industry at that time can attest to that fact.

Average American families will face "some real challenges" if gas moves up to that level again, concluded Tillerson.

In July 2008 gas prices peaked at $4.11 a gallon.

Strong Oil Demand Drives Exxon's (NYSE:XOM) Profits

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) beat expectations in the fourth quarter, as strong demand for oil pushed up the revenue and earnings for the company.

Revenue surged 17 percent in the fourth quarter, jumping to $105.2 billion, or earnings of $1.85 a share, a huge 23 cents a share better than the $1.62 a share analysts had estimated. Analysts had an estimate of $99.1 billion on revenue.

Exxon's Chairman Rex Tillerson said in a statement, “ExxonMobil continues to deliver strong financial and operating results. The full year 2010 earnings, excluding special items, were $30.5 billion, up 57 percent from 2009, driven by higher crude oil and natural gas realizations, stronger refining margins and record Chemical performance. Fourth quarter earnings were $9.3 billion, an increase of 53 percent."

Oil prices in the quarter rose by 12 percent, while Exxon's production grew 19 percent.

For all of 2010, revenue soared to $383 billion, a gain of 32 percent. Earnings for the year came in at $30.5 billion, or 6.22 a share, a huge increase over the $19.3 billion, or 3.98 a share in 2009.

Exxon was trading at $80.26, up $1.30, or 1.61 percent, as of 12:24 PM EST.