When someone from ExxonMobil, an industry bellwether and the largest public oil company in the world, talks, people listen. At its helm is Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson, a native Texan, earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin before joining Exxon Co. USA (EUSA) in 1975 as a production engineer. In 1989, he became general manager of EUSA’s Central Production Division, responsible for operations in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas, before going international.

Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil

Rex Tillerson leads the charge as ExxonMobil embraces new energy strategies.

In 1995, Tillerson was named president of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc., and in 1998 he became vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Ltd., where he was responsible for Exxon’s holdings in Russia, the Caspian Sea, and Sakhalin I.

After the US $81 billion merger of Exxon and Mobil Corp. in 1999, Tillerson became executive vice president of ExxonMobil Development Co. He was named senior vice president of ExxonMobil Corp. in 2001 and later was elected president of the corporation and member of the board of directors. In 2006, he assumed his current position after the retirement of former chairman and chief executive Lee Raymond.

By 2006, investors began to realize this was not their grandfather’s ExxonMobil, as the mega-firm transitioned from leadership under the venerable Raymond to future-focused Tillerson. Shortly thereafter, news emerged of forward-thinking strategies meant to keep the Irving, Texas-based company in the energy supply business.

Experts agree that to satisfy future energy demand, the world must look beyond conventional oil-gas-coal scenarios. Emerging markets for unconventional hydrocarbons and biofuels, in a variety of forms, make development of such resources a must.

Under Tillerson’s leadership, in one of the biggest deals since Exxon merged with Mobil, the supermajor acquired Fort Worth-based XTO Energy Inc. and its resource base, the equivalent of 45 Tcf. When the $41 billion deal was completed, ExxonMobil became one of the largest unconventional gas producers in North America.

XTO was not the supermajor’s first shale-oriented target. In 2009, ExxonMobil increased its position in the Marcellus shale via a 50-50 joint venture (JV) with privately held Pennsylvania General Energy, headquartered in Warren, Pa.

The JV holds approximately 290,000 gross acres in the play. ExxonMobil’s total global unconventional gas acreage now stands at more than 5.5 million net acres excluding the XTO deal.

Prior to entrance into the shales, Tillerson and his team took another path less traveled. In an unusual yet promising alternative energy development, ExxonMobil invested in a next-generation biofuels – photosynthetic algae.

In July 2009, with Tillerson’s approval and support, ExxonMobil formed a partnership with Synthetic Genomics Inc. (SGI) to develop next-generation biofuels using photosynthetic algae.

“We’ve announced a 10-year research and development program with SGI to produce liquid transport fuels from photosynthetic algae,” ExxonMobil spokesperson Rob Young said. “As part of the process, we made an initial investment of $600 million, with potential for further investment in the billions of dollars.”

Photosynthetic algae have several benefits not found in other alternative fuels, he said. They produce bio-oil that can be processed into biofuels similar in molecular structure to gasoline and diesel, compatible with existing refineries, pipelines, and storage tanks. The algae-energy yields are significantly higher, and algae require less land mass, do not compete with food production, and “eat” CO2.

ExxonMobil is confident its scale-and-production design will evolve into a commercially competitive product. It is a long-term project, Young said, with milestones set to judge its success along the way. The partnership’s first research lab is scheduled to be built in San Diego, Calif., this year.