ExxonMobil Announces Equipment for Industry Use Through Marine Well Containment Company

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ExxonMobil, on behalf of the Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC), today announced an agreement with BP to provide its underwater well containment equipment to MWCC as part of BP's intent to join the new organization. Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell are establishing the MWCC to provide emergency response services in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. As part of the agreement, BP equipment will be made available to all oil and gas companies operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The equipment could be deployed to capture and contain oil from a potential underwater well blowout while the new rapid-response system announced in July is being developed. ExxonMobil is leading the engineering, procurement and construction of the system on behalf of the sponsor companies.

“We are working quickly and effectively in an unprecedented effort to improve incident preparedness,” said Lloyd Guillory, marine well containment system project executive. “Our progress since we announced the system demonstrates the commitment of our companies to make equipment immediately available for incident response.”

Existing BP equipment is being assessed for use in near-term response capability. The sponsor companies' project team will utilize full time BP technical personnel with experience from the Gulf of Mexico response.

Guillory added, "This and other equipment that the project expects to acquire will enable us to preserve and secure existing capability for use by the oil and gas industry in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico while we build the new system that exceeds current response capabilities."

The equipment will be operated by MWCC. The formation of the company and details about membership will be announced soon.

“We are pleased to provide the experience and specialized equipment needed to respond to a deepwater well control incident and intend to join the Marine Well Containment Company,” said Richard Morrison, BP vice president for Gulf of Mexico operations. “We believe the addition of our recently gained deepwater intervention experience and specialized equipment will be important to the marine well containment system.”

More information about the U.S. Gulf of Mexico marine well containment system is available at http://www.exxonmobil.com/mwcs.