Conoco Chairman: `Everything Depends On Energy'.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 1999--

The energy industry is indispensable to society, but must adapt itself to changes brought about by the explosion of information technology, Conoco's (NYSE:COCA) (NYSE:COCB) chairman and CEO said today.

"Very simply, everything depends on energy," Archie W. Dunham told the annual Arthur Andersen Energy Symposium.

"It powers technological advances, it spurs economic growth, it creates jobs and it improves lives," he said. "Companies in the business of creating energy, and the governments that encourage its proper production and use, must work together to make sure that the energy needed by society is available when and where it's needed. We must get it right."

Dunham said successful energy companies must be fast, nimble and aggressive as well as be responsible operators and good corporate citizens. And, said the Houston-based executive, they must embrace new technologies like e-commerce to become more competitive and profitable.

"In the energy industry alone, we spent nearly $3 billion last year on Internet technologies, and by 2002, that will more than triple," Dunham said. "Information technology is connecting companies to all their stakeholders in ways unimagined a decade ago."

He said that companies already provide a wealth of information to investors and employees via Internet and Intranet sites, and have begun building important electronic links to suppliers in order to increase productivity, cut cycle time and improve customer satisfaction.

"When Conoco's knowledge workers are joined together in e-business relationships with the knowledge workers of our partners, they share technical expertise and best practices, and both sides benefit," Dunham said.

On the customer side of the equation, he said that the net impact of e-business is evolving, but he predicts a shift in demand. "For example, a telecommuter may not drive to work every day, but the boom in telecommuting and online shopping will create more free time, during which people may drive longer distances for leisure activities," Dunham said.

He offered examples of how retail customers may interact with energy companies in the relatively near future:

-- By going online to quickly determine the cheapest gasoline 

available from outlets within a certain radius of home or

work;

-- By going online and offering to purchase a given amount of

gasoline over a certain amount of time at or below a certain

price, then receiving bids for the business;

-- By ordering gasoline for delivery to a vehicle at home or at

work.

"E-business will dramatically change the way we do things," Dunham said. "Ultimately, the impact will be as great as that of the industrial revolution a century ago."

Conoco is a major, integrated energy company headquartered in Houston and active in 40 countries.