Exxon Mobil's architect steps down as chairman

NEW YORK - Lee Raymond, Exxon Mobil's chairman and chief executive and one of the most high-profile critics of the Kyoto Protocol, will retire at the end of this year.

The move, announced yesterday, brings to an end a 12-year reign as head of Exxon - the world's biggest oil producer - by Raymond, who has worked for the company for 42 years.

The straight-talking 66-year-old has been a prominent sceptic about the generally accepted view that human activity is responsible for global warming. Exxon has run big advertising campaigns, including in the British press, challenging the orthodox view on climate change.

Raymond and a group of supporters close to President George Bush's Administration believe the scientific evidence needs to be examined further and have opposed the Kyoto Protocol, which requires countries that have signed up to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

He was heckled and called the world's "No 1 climate criminal" by protesters when he made a speech in London in February saying that Europe needed a "reality check" on whether it would be able to achieve targets set out in the Kyoto Protocol.

The United States has not signed it. Last week the US passed a wide-ranging bill on energy policy that adopted the most conservative of the three possible blueprints put forward for reducing greenhouse gases.

The legislation offers incentives to businesses that cut damaging emissions but does not impose fixed targets.

Exxon, which merged with Mobil in 1999, also trades as Esso in Britain. Its fortunes have improved in recent years.

It is one of America's biggest companies, worth US$376 billion ($545 billion).

Last month, the company said it made profits of US$7.6 billion in its second quarter, boosted by the surging price of oil.

When asked about his retirement in an interview, Raymond said: "The company pays me a lot of money to do the job I do. They don't pay me any money at all to think about what I'm going to do when I don't have this job."

He has always been tight-lipped on the issue, publicly dressing down anyone who dared ask when he might leave.

"You either retire or die and I'd just as soon not die," Raymond said when questioned about his future plans at the Reuters Energy Summit in June.

He is likely to be replaced by Rex Tillerson. The 53-year-old, who is from Texas and joined Exxon in 1975, became president and a member of the board in March 2004. Tillerson has run Exxon's oil production business.

- INDEPENDENT