Exxon Searching for International Growth (XOM, CVX, COP, RDS-A, BP, OXY, HK)

Shares in Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) posted a new 52-week high of $76.62 yesterday, up about 11% in the past year. That’s not bad growth for the largest company in the US by market cap, especially when you take into account its share price dip to around $56/share during the Gulf of Mexico spill and moratorium on drilling.

Exxon’s share price is increasing primarily as a result of the rising price of crude oil, and the rising share prices of Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE: COP), and Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-A) are following the same path. BP plc (NYSE: BP) shares benefit as well plus the added benefit that comes from seeing an upper limit to the costs it will have to pay for the explosion of its well in the Gulf.

But depending on the rising price of crude doesn’t equal a business model, and Exxon knows that. That’s why the company is spending on acquisitions like XTO Energy and other oil and natural gas assets that it can add to its proved reserves. Likewise, it must sell or close underperformers.

Exxon recently announced that it would sell its stakes in two North Sea gas fields that it acquired with XTO. The company says they won’t be able to generate large enough returns to have a positive impact on Exxon’s profits. And the company probably has plenty more assets like that, both in oil and gas fields.

Rather than just selling low-performing assets, Exxon is also taking advantage of other opportunities. In Malaysia, the company has said it will invest put up about two-thirds of a $4.9 billion investment with Shell in Malaysia to raise that country’s oil production back to the levels of the 1990s. In addition to new projects, about a third of the Exxon/Shell investment will go to enhanced oil recovery projects. And Exxon expects to invest more with Malaysia’s national oil company, Petronas, on other enhanced recovery projects. Because Exxon’s projects in Malaysia include several production sharing contracts, this investment is a good way to post growth because it both boosts barrels of reserves and takes advantage of rising prices.

Exxon is also one of three bidders to replace Conoco in the Shah natural gas project being led by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., usually called Adnoc. The competitors are Shell and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: OXY). The project is still on target for completion in 2014, and expects to process 1 billion cubic feet/day of natural gas.

The company has also recently completed a third well in the Santos Basin offshore of Brazil. Exxon is the operator of the wells, and owns a 40% stake in the block. This deal was made before the government of Brazil passed laws restricting majority ownership of the country’s oil resources.

Exxon has also recently sent an exploration rig through the Hesperus to explore in the Black Sea, part of a partnership with Turkey’s national oil company. On the downside, the company’s LNG plant in Indonesia is suffering from a decline in output and is scheduled to close in 2014.

In the US, Exxon paid $650 million in December to Petrohawk Energy Corp. (NYSE: HK) for that company’s Fayetteville shale assets in Arkansas. This gives the energy giant another play in the shale gas bonanza, and is a relatively small bet that natural gas prices will rise throughout 2011.

Exxon needs to focus on growth, and it takes it wherever it can get it. And it needs big deals, like the XTO acquisition, to move the needle. Unfortunately, there aren’t many of those around. The company will buy and sell assets ruthlessly anywhere in the world as it searches for growth.

Exxon’s shares are trading about -0.5% early this morning on news that crude prices are falling in response to the latest US unemployment claims report. The company also posted a new 52-week high this morning of $76.82. The company’s median price target is $77, though the latest take from Barclays Capital raised Exxon’s price target to $85/share even though the stock was downgraded from ‘Outperform’ to ‘Market Perform’.

Paul Ausick