Singapore (January 25, 2002) - I'm honoured to be here in Singapore with this esteemed audience on such an exciting day.

I also want to extend a warm welcome to our distinguished guests especially Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. We are appreciative of your taking time to be with us.

The media is calling the 21st Century Asia's Century -- a century dominated by foresight, growth, innovation and technical expertise. Our lengthy experience in Singapore and throughout the Asia Pacific region makes me believe that this could well be the case.

When ExxonMobil Chemical began talking to the Economic Development Board in the mid-nineties about building a state-of-the-art chemical plant in Singapore, the land below us was underwater.

The fact that this celebration is taking place on entirely reclaimed land is a testament to the foresight of the Singapore government and the innovation and technical expertise of Singaporeans who helped build it and now operate it.

All of these qualities, along with our goal to better position ourselves to serve our customers, were factors in ExxonMobil Chemical's decision to site one of our largest petrochemical plants here.

In evaluating where to site the plant that would be the foundation for our Asia Pacific business, Singapore offered us a unique opportunity. The government's economic and education policies have allowed the country to grow within the span of four decades from a small, newly independent state with no natural resources, to one of the world's most prosperous countries.

The welcoming of international trade and investment with a stable business climate, coupled with a motivated and talented local workforce enabled ExxonMobil Chemical to build our plant in the heart of the region with the fastest-growing demand for our products.

Being able to capture feedstock and operating synergies with our local refineries added further strength to our project. We were able to capture strategic advantages in an extremely challenging marketplace by establishing operations quickly in this part of the world, bringing manufacturing capability closer to our customers.

ExxonMobil is Singapore's largest foreign investor, and this chemical plant is our largest single-step investment in the Asia Pacific region. This US$2 billion plant is a vital part of our global Chemical network, and we're absolutely delighted that SCP is now operating and supplying petrochemical products to the marketplace.

With much of the world in the midst of an economic slow down, you may question our excitement. The near-term outlook continues to be bleak with no signs of economic recovery in sight.  However, the positive feeling we have is based on our perception that over the long term, we see Asia Pacific as a significant area of growth.

Tangible proof of that confidence is demonstrated by the fact that we've more than doubled our presence in Southeast Asia since 1993, investing over US$3 billion in the area.

We've made this level of investment because, in the long term, we expect that worldwide growth for ExxonMobil Chemical's products will exceed GDP growth, especially in this region.

For example, ethylene demand in the region is expected to grow about 7% annually from 2000 to 2005, while demand for polypropylene should be up between 6% and 7% during the same time period.

We believe we are now well positioned to participate in that growth because our Asia Pacific facilities and ongoing projects demonstrate this confidence and long-term commitment to the region:

• In the People's Republic of China, we have investments ranging from our 40 KTA ester plasticizer plant in Panyu, South China to our joint venture Shanghai Jinsen Hydrocarbon Resins Company Limited.

• We also are evaluating opportunities to expand our presence in the PRC through two proposed joint ventures in Fujian and Guangdong provinces. Each venture would eventually create a world-scale integrated refinery/chemical plant site.

• In Thailand, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited (ETL), invested some US$400 million in a major aromatics plant, fully-integrated with the company's Sriracha Refinery, on the east coast of Thailand in 1999.  The plant produces 350 KTA of paraxylene. In addition, a 35 KTA fluids plant, also integrated with the Sriracha Refinery, produces dearomatised aliphatic hydrocarbon fluids.

We recognise that our industry and many of our customers are facing an extremely challenging economic environment.

But while we sometimes think that only more positive business conditions provide an opportunity to stimulate progress, we - in ExxonMobil Chemical - are convinced that such opportunities exist also during downtimes.  Let me cite two areas of focus that we also believe will make us the supplier of choice with our customers.

While manufacturing presence is necessary to be a preferred supplier, it is not sufficient.  One of the other necessary ingredients is technology.

While SCP is our strategic supply pillar for this region, it is also an example of all of the best that technology and operational synergies have to offer.

One of the key advantages our global operations bring to the table is a unique technical support capability. We offer an extensive and sophisticated network of technology experts and laboratories that test applications and share information across our global network.

We have nine technology centers strategically located around the world, including one in Singapore, that works as a virtual team. Our workforce is one of the most technically competent and innovative in the industry.

What does this mean for our customers? It means that we can provide them with superior products. More importantly, it means that ExxonMobil Chemical's technical experts are ready to visit your business and work with you to identify how to use our products to your best advantage. It also means that we can offer you the latest research into the products and processes integral to your business.

Whether you're interested in the latest on plasticizer research conducted by our lab here in Singapore or the polyolefin tests we're running in our European laboratories, our ExxonMobil chemical reps around Asia Pacific are ready and capable of helping you.

I've mentioned manufacturing capability and technological excellence as two of the three factors needed to be the preferred supplier. Before closing, let me talk briefly about the third -- an ability to meet your service need.

We are constantly striving to better position ourselves to serve our customers' needs in targeted markets all over the world.

In fact we are investing more than US$400 million in a global management system that will affect every part of our business.  GEMS, as we call it, is the transaction and process engine that will be the foundation of our customer-interface capability and will position us as leaders with our customers.

We think we're the premier petrochemical company but what we think is not important. It's what our customers think that counts!

Our success depends on our ability to consistently meet and exceed our customers' expectations, for we will only be able to claim the reputation as a preferred supplier when our customers believe that is the case.

This new, world-class facility and the talented people who work here are the latest demonstration of our commitment to this goal.

In closing, I'd like to again thank Deputy Prime Minister Lee and the other government representatives who are here for providing an economic climate geared to stimulating investment.

I'd also like to thank our customers for their willingness to work with us on a partnership where we can both prosper.

And to those who are our neighbors, we look forward to running a facility whose safety, health and environmental record is a role model.

Partnerships such as these lend credibility to the projections that this will be Asia's Century and we look forward to being a vital part of that development.