Conoco Executive Sees Opportunities.

Business/Energy Editors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 2000

A top Conoco (NYSE:COCA) (NYSE:COCB) executive says that the petroleum industry should view potential barriers to a continued healthy industry as opportunities to be embraced and acted upon.

R.E. "Rob" McKee, executive vice president for exploration production, addressed the annual Arthur Andersen Energy Symposium.

"One obvious and significant source of new possibilities for our industry lies in challenging the status quo on U.S. energy policy," he said. "It is in all of our interests to collaborate with the new administration to adopt a rational energy policy that can protect our environment as well as increase our energy security and stimulate economic growth."

McKee said U.S. energy policy should address matters of access to hydrocarbon reserves, both domestic and international. Besides urging a review of unilateral sanctions against crucial petroleum producers like Iran and Libya, McKee said access to U.S. reserves also should be examined.

"In the United States, some of the most prospective natural gas acreage is off limits to drilling. In the Rocky Mountains, various restrictions impact 137 trillion cubic feet (TCF), or 40 percent of available potential resource," he said. "In addition, another 76 TCF is located offshore in highly prospective regions in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the western Atlantic and the Pacific Coast.

"For all intents and purposes, all of these regions are completely closed to any natural gas development, despite their close proximity to major natural gas markets."

McKee also said so-called stranded natural gas assets present opportunities for new technology. "Conoco's key initiative to date in this arena has been in natural gas refining, where we are one of only a handful of companies researching proprietary technology to progress gas liquids-to-fuels applications," he said. "This is the kind of initiative that could have a profound impact on the future of our business."

Finally, McKee said customer focus and the need to add value for all constituents also present opportunities. "We are now in the process of demonstrating that doing business with Conoco is beneficial to all constituents -- customers, partners, communities and, of course, shareholders," he said.

"The challenge for all of us is to view the increasing needs of our constituents not as a `cost of doing business,' but rather as critical enablers and potential competitive advantages," McKee said.

He cited a report by a German organization, Oekom Research AG, that rated Conoco first out of 23 global oil and gas companies in terms of environmental, social and cultural responsibility, and the inclusion of Conoco in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as one of the top 10 percent of sustainability driven companies in the petroleum sector.

"Conoco believes that behaving responsibly toward all stakeholders is good business -- now, and over the long term," McKee said. "Value-adding opportunities will most certainly continue for competitors in our industry who can manage the present and enable new possibilities for the future."

Conoco is a major, integrated energy company with activities in more than 40 countries.