XOM, XTO, And Idle Chatter

Don sent me a most interesting article with several story lines. Bloomberg is reporting: 

Exxon finished 2013 with proved reserves equivalent to 25.2 billion barrels of oil, 47 percent of which were comprised of gas, according to today’s statement. The company discovered and acquired enough new crude and gas to replace 103 percent of what it pumped last year.

The company cited the Upper Zakum oilfield in Abu Dhabi as a major source of new liquid reserves, as well as North American shale formations such as the Permian and Bakken. Exxon has been deploying XTO’s fracturing experts to shale fields to speed the development of resources.

The story looks familiar and though it has the February 27, 2014, date, it seems I've seen the same story elsewhere a few days (or weeks) ago.  I wrote the following to Don, unedited:

You know, this is a huge story. I first heard "rumors" about this story some weeks ago -- let's see the date on this article -- Feb 27, so this is the first time I've seen this in print, but I heard someone talking about this/or read about this. I don't know who picked up on this a couple of weeks ago, but I certainly caught it -- my ears perk up when I hear XTO or some other Bakken operator mentioned on the radio.

They say XOM /CEO is brilliant -- the previous one and now this one -- whoever he is -- I've forgotten -- but they say XOM is brilliant and they don't make mistakes. They were too heavy into natural gas and analysts thought XOM had made a mistake. Maybe they did, but they turned on a dime when they bought XTO and the rest is history.

XOM could have bought other Bakken "experts" but maybe XOM liked XTO's ticker symbol. Smile.

If XOM is citing the Bakken, that, for me, is a huge story. Especially when the Bakken is mentioned in the same paragraph as Abu Dhabi.