Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation, is being recognised for his “outstanding contribution to the oil and gas industry” with the highest honour of the World Petroleum Council, the Dewhurst Award. This distinguished lifetime achievement award celebrates his exceptional leadership of the largest publicly traded oil and gas company in the world over the past 10 years.

Tillerson is only the tenth recipient of the Dewhurst Award in the history of the WPC. In 1933, Mr. Thomas Dewhurst (1881-1973), then president of the Institute of Petroleum in the United Kingdom, organised what was to become the first World Petroleum Congress. The Dewhurst Lecture is a tribute to him and to the person asked to deliver the Dewhurst Lecture.

Rex Tillerson will receive the award during the Dewhurst Ceremony at the 22nd World Petroleum Congress in Istanbul on the 13th July 2017. Attended by more than 5,000 delegates, including 50 ministers, 500 CEOs and more than 1,000 press representatives, the “Olympics of the Oil and Gas Industry” will be the perfect venue to celebrate his achievements.

About Rex Tillerson:

A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Rex Tillerson earned a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering at the University of Texas at Austin before joining Exxon Company, U.S.A. in 1975 as a production engineer. In 1992, Mr. Tillerson was named production advisor to Exxon Corporation. Three years later he was named president of Exxon Yemen Inc. and Esso Exploration and Production Khorat Inc., and in January 1998 became vice president of Exxon Ventures (CIS) Inc. and president of Exxon Neftegas Limited. In those roles, he was responsible for Exxon’s holdings in Russia and the Caspian Sea as well as the Sakhalin I consortium operations offshore Sakhalin Island, Russia.

In December 1999, he became executive vice president of ExxonMobil Development Company. Mr. Tillerson was named senior vice president of Exxon Mobil Corporation in August 2001, and was elected president of the corporation and member of the board of directors on March 1, 2004. He assumed his current position on January 1, 2006.

Mr. Tillerson is a member of the executive committee and a former chairman of the American Petroleum Institute. He is also a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, a trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a past national president of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of the Chancellor’s Council, Development Board and the Engineering Advisory Board for the University of Texas at Austin, where he was named a distinguished alumnus in 2007.

Dr Jozsef Toth, President of the World Petroleum Council has great praise for ExxonMobil’s CEO.

"Rex Tillerson has been an inspiration for our industry, blazing the trail on integrity, global cooperation and technical innovation,” Toth said. “He has created an enormous legacy as an exceptional leader and groundbreaking operator in the global oil and gas sector. It was a pleasure to welcome him as a plenary speaker to our previous congresses in Moscow, Doha and Madrid and it will be an honour to present him with our highest award. On behalf of our board and the 70 member countries of the World Petroleum Council, I am delighted to congratulate him on this recognition.”