Kuala Lumpur, July 14, 2006 - ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Malaysia Inc. (EMEPMI), a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corporation, announced today that it has started operations at the Guntong E gas compression platform in the South China Sea to help meet increasing gas demand in Malaysia.

Guntong E was developed under the Gas Production Sharing Contract (GPSC) between EMEPMI as the operator and co-venturer PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd.  Each holds a 50 percent participating interest in the GPSC.

In announcing the start-up of the facility, EMEPMI Chairman Rob Fisher said that the Guntong E development is another example of the long-standing commitment the co-venturers share in working together to help meet Malaysia's energy needs.

"EMEPMI is committed to ensuring reliable gas supplies and to providing technological advances and international best practices to our operations in Malaysia.  The development of Guntong E is key to meeting Malaysia's rising energy needs in the coming decades. The start-up of this project will position us to embark on several future gas resource development commitments under our Gas Production Sharing Contract with PETRONAS," said Fisher.

Initially funded at RM 1 billion (US$ 280 million), the Guntong E project was completed with a significant cost saving of 13%.  The platform is the first phase of the Guntong Hub development, which is anticipated to produce and process a total of over four trillion cubic feet of gas for sale in Peninsular Malaysia. Guntong E, together with the two existing Guntong D production and compression platforms, will have a combined gas handling capacity of more than 800 million cubic feet of gas per day and will further boost Peninsular Malaysia gas sales capacity.

The Guntong Hub development will involve new drill wells, workover of existing wells, satellite platforms, new pipelines and retrofit of existing platforms.  The additional compression capacity at Guntong E will also increase total crude oil production capacity from EMEPMI-operated fields by more than 10 percent, with a peak production rate of over 15 thousand barrels per day.

Fully designed and constructed in Malaysia, fabrication of the Guntong E platform began in April 2004 and the platform was successfully installed in October 2005.  The project employed the highest safety standards during all stages of execution, requiring more than four million work hours to complete, and involved more than 1,500 workers during peak construction activity. An additional 500,000 work hours were required to hook-up and commission the platform in preparation for operational start-up. Weighing a total of 17,800 metric tonnes, the platform is one of the largest commissioned by EMEPMI to date.

The Guntong E platform is located approximately 210 km off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia in water depths of 64 meters.  The facility consists of an eight-leg jacket and six modules for gas receiving, separation, dehydration and compression.  A bridge connects Guntong E to the existing Guntong D gas compression platform. Compressed gas from Guntong Hub fields will flow through existing pipelines to onshore processing plants in Kerteh, Terengganu and into the Peninsular Gas Utilization project.

EMEPMI is one of the major crude oil producers and suppliers of natural gas in Malaysia.  Gross daily operated crude oil production is around 150,000 barrels per day, while gross daily operated gas production is around 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day.