Exxon Mobil Suffers 2012 Oil and Gas Dip

It was revealed on Thursday that Exxon Mobil's

oil and natural gas output in 2012 would drop 3% compared to last year, due to increased spending to bring several new projects on line. According to

, production is expected to grow by 1 to 2% through 2016, despite the drop in output. It isn't all on XOM. Other companies like Royal Dutch Shell

and BP

have struggled to increase oil and gas output in recent years. As a result, they have all had to spend at record levels to get to difficult-to-reach wells. XOM spent $36.8 billion, with the company expecting to spend $27 billion each year for the next five years, a total of $185 billion. "The industry is in a period of high capital investment," Chief Executive Rex Tillerson told a shareholders meeting. In a research report released on Wednesday, Deutsche Bank said that there was a time when the ExxonMobil analyst meeting caused sellside analysts to sweat in nervous anticipation, that they might be the traditional annual subject of Lee Raymond's possible scorn. “Entertaining as it was to everybody but the analyst in question, that is not Rex Tillerson's style. So at this year's meeting we get, first, a joke from Tillerson about how happy he is to be in NY. To visit. That sums up the diffence to Raymond. Tillerson is softer and more humorous in personal communication but clearly has a steel edge.”