Exxon Mobil Chief to Leave

Exxon's presence on the corporate landscape diminished after 1990 when the company moved its headquarters from New York City to Irving, Tex., a community of office parks, gated developments and manicured lawns outside Dallas. The headquarters is less visible than a company gas station -- hidden behind trees, shrubs and security fences.

Raymond, a native of Watertown, S.D., who has a doctorate in chemical engineering, spent 42 years at Exxon, where he was schooled in the company's rigid focus on squeezing more profit out of its operations than competitors do. He rose to the top job at Exxon in 1993. He remained in charge when Exxon acquired Mobil.

Environmental and public interest groups recently began a campaign against the company.

"If this was a movie, Lee Raymond would be Darth Vader on global warming," said Kert Davies, research director for the environmental group Greenpeace, part of the anti-Exxon campaign. "Anything that comes up positive, you can guarantee that Exxon is on the other side of it."

Exxon has long questioned the increasingly accepted science behind global warming but says it recognizes that the risk of climate change may be significant and that it has taken steps to reduce emissions. The company has donated millions of dollars to organizations that share Exxon's views, causing environmentalists to complain that the company is using independent groups to promote its position.

Exxon has opposed mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions and its lobbying is seen by environmentalists as having influenced the U.S. government's decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol, which sets targets for reducing pollution linked to global warming.

"Exxon tells it like it is," Cirigliano, the company spokesman, said recently. "We're willing to take the slings and arrows if we think something has to be said. What really puzzles us is that we're condemned for having a different opinion."

Exxon was criticized by several Senate Democrats in June after it announced the hiring of Philip Cooney, a White House official and former lobbyist with the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group. Cooney had just resigned from the White House after reportedly revising government scientific reports to cast doubt on the link between global warming and the emission of greenhouse gases. The Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid of Nevada, wrote to Raymond, questioning the company's ethical standards. Exxon officials dismissed the criticism and said they hired the best man for the job.

While competitors get into the alternative energy business, Exxon officials dismiss such projects as small-scale public relations efforts that make little or no money. Exxon literature explains: "Current renewable technologies do not offer near-term promise for profitable investment relative to attractive opportunities that we see in our core business."

As his career winds down, Raymond faces a difficult but enviable task: how to spend $30 billion in cash on hand.

Exxon has been giving some cash to investors in the form of higher dividends and has been buying back stock. It also has been spending conservatively on exploration and development, analysts said.

International energy officials have said oil companies worldwide are not doing enough to keep up with predicted growth in demand. The International Energy Agency, a Paris-based adviser to 26 industrialized countries, has said oil companies and governments are not investing enough in new oil production, raising the possibility of inadequate supplies in the future. More oil production would put downward pressure on prices.