Exxon's Global Footprint

Although the company's vast portfolio of investments spans the planet, its average daily production has been in steady decline

U.S.

Along with Qatar, the U.S. is Exxon's largest profit base. The company produces and refines oil and natural gas in Alaska, Colorado, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, and elsewhere. It's not a growth market, but it has the highest demand for fossil fuels in the world.

NETHERLANDS

Exxon's half-century-old offshore investment here is largely a natural gas play. Given Europe's growing thirst for natural gas, this appears likely to be a profit center for Exxon for another two or three decades.

ANGOLA AND NIGERIA

Together, the countries are a substantial piece in Exxon's oil and natural gas puzzle. Turmoil in Nigeria, however, makes that portion of the company's Africa portfolio possibly its riskiest.

QATAR

Exxon's Qatar investment is a huge liquid-natural-gas play ahead of an expected explosion in European and world demand for natural gas.

FORMER SOVIET UNION

Between Kazakhstan and Russia, Exxon is part of three gigantic oil projects— Kashagan, Tengiz, and Sakhalin-I. The latter two are already producing.