Good morning and welcome to the ExxonMobil 2025 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I'm Jim Chapman, Vice President, Treasurer, and Investor Relations. Today's meeting is being recorded and includes copyrighted material. Please do not record or rebroadcast these materials without our consent. We're also conducting this meeting virtually, making it easier for more investors to join. If we encounter any technical issues and can't continue the meeting, please note that the notice of the annual meeting has been properly served. We have a quorum present. All proposals will be considered properly presented. Appointed proxies have cast all votes as set forth on the individual proxy cards. Polls will be closed at 10:15 A.M. Central Time, and the meeting will be adjourned at that time. Final votes will be posted on our website and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8K.
We'll be making statements today that are forward-looking. Of course, they're subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. We've provided more information on the factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these statements in our cautionary statements on this slide, as well as the risk factors section of our most recent Form 10-K. With those items out of the way, I'll summarize the rules and the items of business that we'll be covering today. In a few minutes, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Darren Woods, will share his thoughts on our many successes of the past year and how ExxonMobil will play a critical role in meeting society's evolving needs long into the future. Darren's business review will be followed by three items of business, including the election of directors, ratification of independent auditors, and an advisory vote on executive compensation.
If you're a shareholder and want to vote or change a prior vote, please follow the voting instructions on your screen. Once the items of business are finished, we'll take your questions, and then the polls will be closed. I'll then provide the preliminary results from the inspectors of election, and Darren will provide a few closing remarks. Our Board of Directors has set some guidelines to help this meeting run smoothly and productively. You can find these rules of conduct in the meeting materials on the website. Only shareholders as of April 2 or their appointed proxies can participate during the meeting. Some of our shareholders have already submitted questions, but for those of you who'd still like to submit a question, you can use the Ask a Question feature in the lower left of your computer screen.
We will place priority on questions of general interest that relate to our business. We might also combine some questions if they address similar topics. We'll do our best to answer as many questions as possible within our time commitment. A list of shareholders who are entitled to vote is available for your inspection. We've included further instructions in the meeting materials on the meeting website. Ellie Sullivan and Lori Shamoun of Computershare were appointed as the inspectors of election for this meeting and are participating remotely. Both took an oath of office that was delivered to the Secretary for filing with the minutes. Notice of this meeting has been properly given, and the inspectors of election have determined that a quorum is present. Now I'll turn the meeting over to Darren Woods.
Good morning, and thanks for joining us. I'm pleased to share with you ExxonMobil's many recent successes and our plans for a future that I believe will be the brightest in the company's history. ExxonMobil has never been defined by our products. We're more than an oil and gas company. We're more than a transportation fuels, plastics, lubricants, or even carbon capture and storage company. We're a company uniquely built to develop products that meet society's critical needs and solve its biggest challenges now and far into the future. We're a company defined by our people and their talents and the unique combination of competitive advantages that we've built over decades: scale, technology, integration, execution, excellence. We're leveraging these advantages to deliver industry-leading value in each of our businesses.
The world will continue to need energy and petrochemical products that make modern life possible, especially in developing nations where billions of people are struggling to improve their standard of living and free themselves from a life of energy poverty. We can help meet this need by reliably providing affordable energy and essential products. The need for low-emission solutions will also grow. We are uniquely positioned to meet that need, leveraging our existing capabilities and advantages while working to develop advances in carbon reduction technologies. As society's needs evolve, so will our products. Change is constant. What does not change is society's need for a company that takes the molecules that form the very foundation of our physical world and transforms them into ways to meet their evolving needs. A company like ExxonMobil. It begins with technology, which is at the heart of what we do.
You see it across our businesses today. In the upstream, we've patented a new lightweight proppant that allows us to recover 15% more resource from our unconventional wells. In product solutions, we've developed a proprietary technology that allows us to transform the lowest value fuel oil into high value lubricant-based stocks and diesel. This new-to-the-world technology forms the foundation of the multi-billion dollar upgrade project at our Singapore refinery and chemical plant. In low carbon solutions, we're chasing the holy grail of emissions reduction, an economically viable method of capturing carbon dioxide directly from the air. These are just a few examples of how our scientists and engineers are redefining what's possible. When you invest in ExxonMobil, you're investing in a company with an unmatched record of developing technologies that deliver unmatched value. You're investing in capabilities and competitive advantages developed over decades that can't be replicated.
You're investing in a company that has always innovated to meet society's needs, a company that delivers industry-leading returns. In 2024, we demonstrated the strength of our strategy now in its eighth year, driving value for society and shareholders alike. We've achieved ambitious objectives and expanded our portfolio of profitable growth opportunities. Operationally, we delivered strong results in safety, a bedrock commitment in everything we do, in reliability, where we delivered record performance in product solutions, and in emissions, where we reduced operated methane intensity by more than 60% since 2016. Financially, our steadily improving earnings power was evident in earnings of $34 billion and cash flow from operations of $55 billion, which we used to fund profitable growth, maintain our financial strength, and reward shareholders. Our total shareholder return, which is our share price appreciation plus dividends paid, was industry-leading over one, three, and five years.
We've demonstrated our continued commitment to a growing dividend, with the increase in 2024 marking the 42nd year in a row. Only 4% of the companies in the S&P 500 can make that claim. In 2024, we were the second largest total dividend payer in the entire index. Every part of our business contributed to our success. In the upstream, we've built the best portfolio in the industry. Our focus is on value, not volume. Since 2019, our unit profitability has doubled with our focus on advantaged barrels whose low cost of supply yields higher profits. These advantaged assets now comprise more than 50% of our portfolio and contributed to the highest upstream liquids production in 40 years. In the Permian, we achieved record production in 2024, and we expect that to roughly double by 2030. This will further strengthen U.S. energy security while lowering emissions.
It's been just over a year since Pioneer joined ExxonMobil, and we couldn't be happier with the seamless transition to one team. Together, we expect to deliver synergies averaging $3 billion per year over the next 10 years. We also achieved record production last year in Guyana, the world's premier deep-water development. The benefits are tremendous, not just profitable growth for ExxonMobil, but rapidly rising living standards for the Guyanese people, with GDP per capita more than tripling since we started production five years ago. In product solutions, we enhanced our industry-leading portfolio and established the foundation for new-to-the-world products that outperform alternatives on cost, performance, and value. Our newest advantage projects drove record sales of high-value products in 2024, a key driver of our earnings power improvement.
We advanced our plans to develop and grow new businesses, notably our Proxima Resin Systems and Carbon Materials venture that together have a potential market of $100 billion by 2030. In low carbon solutions, our focus is converting growing commercial interest into large-scale accretive projects. We're the only company with a world-scale end-to-end system for carbon capture, transport, and storage. That's why we've been able to contract more CO2 than anyone else and why we're uniquely positioned to meet the potentially huge demand from data centers for low carbon power. In the lithium and hydrogen space, our focus has been on signing more offtake agreements, developing cost-advantage technologies, and, in the case of low carbon hydrogen, bringing in equity partners to optimize capital and returns. When you step back and look across all of our businesses, it's clear nobody has built the kind of company we have.
With our unique competitive advantages, core capabilities, and leading results, we are truly in a league of our own. This year, we expect to further differentiate ourselves. We're bringing online a full slate of large, value-accretive projects: our fourth and largest development in Guyana, new facilities in China, Singapore, and the U.K. to make higher-value products, a renewable diesel facility at our affiliate in Canada, and new facilities at Baytown, Texas to meet growing needs for advanced recycling polymers, which will help keep hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic waste from being buried or burned. ExxonMobil's runway of profitable growth extends far into the future. We're positioned for unmatched growth in our current businesses and in our new businesses that harness technology to provide valuable products in a lower-emissions world.
This is the end equation in action, meeting the world's needs for energy and critical products and reducing emissions. The energy transition, in whatever form it takes, represents an opportunity for our business, not a threat. The combination of population growth and rising living standards is anticipated to drive a 15% increase in overall global energy use by 2050, with oil growing by 4% and natural gas by 39%. Meeting this growth or replacing the volumes we've produced is a significant challenge and requires significant investment, leveraging all of our advantages to generate better returns than others. In product solutions, demand for chemical products will grow from around 200 million tons per year to nearly 400 million tons by mid-century. At the same time, we expect global emissions to decline by 25% or more by 2050, with the help of ExxonMobil and other large industrial players tackling harder-to-carbonize industries.
This starts with our own operations. We're working to get our Heritage Permian operations to net zero by 2030 and our recently acquired Pioneer Permian assets to net zero by 2035. Nobody else is doing that. It extends to third parties. Wind, solar, and EVs aren't the solution for large industrial emitters. Carbon capture and storage, low carbon hydrogen, and lower-emissions fuels are needed. That's where we can help. We can meet this need profitably. We're developing new technology-enabled businesses built on transforming rather than combusting hydrocarbons. Our Proxima products and carbon materials businesses are great examples, taking us beyond the traditional fuels and chemicals into higher growth, higher-margin markets. Together, we expect our low carbon solutions and technology-driven new businesses to contribute $3 billion to earnings by 2030. As you surely noticed from our proxy statement, we have no shareholder proposals on the ballot this year.
For the first time in almost 70 years, we believe this is a result of two things: our financial and operating results, which set us apart from peers and enable us to consistently reward shareholders, and our willingness to challenge proposals that undermine the value of our company and abuse the proxy proposal process. Last year, we took legal action against activists who wanted to shrink our business by repeatedly submitting shareholder proposals that, in their own words, were Trojan horses for their activist agenda. This is in direct contrast to our efforts in expanding engagement with investors who want to hear more about our work to grow the value of their company. Last year, leaders from the company, including members of our board of directors, met with shareholders holding roughly half of our outstanding shares.
Our commitment to protect the value of your company also underpinned our lawsuit against the EU when it implemented an unjustified profits tax. The California Attorney General, when he falsely accused us of misrepresenting the benefits of advanced plastic recycling. As investors in our company, I hope you take comfort in knowing that we're working hard to grow the value of your investments and we're willing to fight those who try to take it from you. Our efforts are paying off compared to the other integrated oil companies. Over the past five years, we've grown cash flow from operations at a 13% compounded annual growth rate. That's seven percentage points higher than the closest competitor. We've returned more than $125 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and buybacks, $30 billion more than the closest competitor.
We have grown total shareholder returns at a compounded annual growth rate of 14%, significantly higher than the closest competitor. Looking ahead, the company's plans build on this performance with an even more advantaged asset portfolio, with 60% of upstream production from advantaged assets by 2030. That is nearly the same as the next largest IOC's total production, an even more profitable product mix with 80% growth in performance product sales by 2030, an even more efficient operator with an additional $6 billion of costs taken out of the business, and even more earnings and cash potential, $20 billion in additional earnings and $30 billion in incremental cash flow by 2030. It is easy to remember 2030 by 2030, all of which will enable us to continue rewarding our shareholders.
If I can leave you with one message today, it is this: nobody has ExxonMobil's advantages, nobody has our opportunities, and nobody has our potential for significantly growing shareholder value. We're truly in a league of our own, not just now, but far into the future. Thank you again for your support. With that, let's turn to the business of the meeting. I'm now placing the three items of formal business listed in the notice before the meeting for a vote. The first proposal is the election of 12 directors. The board nominates the 12 persons identified in the proxy statement. All 12 are highly qualified to serve on the board. All the nominees are currently serving as ExxonMobil directors and are participating in this meeting remotely.
They are Michael Angelakis, Angela Braly, Maria Dreyfus, John Harris, Kaisa Hietala, Joseph Hooley, Stephen Kandarian, Alexander Karsner, Lawrence Kellner, Dina Powell McCormick, Jeffrey Ubben, and myself. The next item on the agenda is the ratification of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the independent auditor. The board's audit committee has appointed PwC to audit ExxonMobil's financial statements for 2025. PwC is represented today by Simon Tate, who's also participating remotely. The audit committee recommends a vote for ratification of that appointment for the reasons set out in the proxy statement. The next board proposal calls for an advisory vote to approve executive compensation. The board recommends a vote for this proposal as well. At this time, I'd ask you to please cast your votes if you have not done so already. To ensure sufficient time to vote, we will close the polls following our Q&A session. Jim will moderate.
Thank you, Darren.
In advance of and during today's call, we received more than 140 questions and comments. We read every one of those, and we appreciate you taking the time to give us your feedback. To keep things organized and to avoid repeating ourselves, we've grouped similar questions together. First question, Tom, a beneficial owner, asks, will there be an increase in dividends this year? Thank you.
Yeah, we receive this question pretty frequently. Let me start by saying we know how important the dividend is to our retail shareholders, many of whom are retired and hold our stock because of our sustainable and growing dividend. Because of this, our board looks at whether and how much to raise the dividend every quarter. In recent years, dividend raisings have been announced in December, and we just increased the dividend to $0.99 per share in December last year, a roughly 4% increase. More broadly, with respect to sharing our success with shareholders, in the first quarter of this year, we returned more than $9 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends and buybacks.
Now, while I can't answer the question about what will happen this year, I will remind our investors that we have raised the dividend 42 consecutive years, reflecting our commitment to paying a sustainable and growing dividend as part of a well-balanced program of returning cash to shareholders.
Okay, next. Charles, a beneficial owner, asks, where are the shareholder proposals? Is the board hiding them, or maybe you think they're a waste of time and might gain a few votes so they got lost?
Charles, like many of us, was surprised by the lack of shareholder proposals this year. Also, I must say that I'm surprised by Charles' speculation as to why. I think anyone that has followed our company for any period knows that we take the shareholder proposal process seriously and invest significant time to understand them and provide thoughtful responses for all of our shareholders to consider. This year, for the first time since 1958, we received no qualifying shareholder proposals. As I outlined earlier, we attribute this to two main reasons. We've transformed the company and are delivering financial and operating performance that is significantly outpacing our competitors. We demonstrated our willingness to stand up to activists who abuse the process and push proposals that advance their agenda to the detriment of our company and the value of your investment. I want to be clear.
We support the shareholder proposal process in place today. However, we prefer direct engagements to understand what's on our investors' minds and suggestions to improve. That's why we invest considerable time throughout the year to meet with shareholders and discuss our business, our publicly disclosed strategies and plans. In fact, since our last annual meeting a year ago, leaders from the company, including members of our board of directors, have met with shareholders representing about half of our total shares outstanding in over 120 engagements. We dedicate significant time to listening to our investors and seek to learn from them. That will continue to be a focus area for us.
All right. Several institutional investors have asked about our plans to navigate the current market conditions. These questions can be summarized as, how do we plan to adapt our plans if oil prices continue to decline?
The work we've done over the past eight years should make one thing very clear. We're built to excel in any environment. Our strategy has led to a portfolio that is, frankly, the envy of the industry, with a low cost of supply. We have a strong balance sheet and lean cost base, with about $13 billion of structural cost cut out of the business since 2019. Our organization has planned for challenging environments. We pressure test our plans and the financial outcomes with scenarios that are severe, worse even than our COVID experience. When I say we plan for this, I mean that literally. Late last year, our teams developed in-depth financial sensitivities, much more punitive scenarios than what we are now seeing, that we discussed with our board. Our conclusion is what I just mentioned. Our strategy has prepared us for this.
We have significant optionality to make changes to enhance value, which we are constantly evaluating. We do not see the need to change, even at prices as low as $50 a barrel. Our strategy is geared to insulate our capital allocation priorities from swings in the market. For differentiated long-term value, we must invest in profitable growth and advantage investment opportunities. We must maintain financial strength to execute our strategy and plans across commodity cycles. We must share our success with our shareholders. We understand the importance of dependable shareholder distributions.
Okay. Ralph, another beneficial owner, asks, why does ExxonMobil have such excellent fundamentals and tremendous potential in Guyana and in the Permian Basin, and yet the stock price has been range-bound for two years between $100 and $126?
Ralph, thanks for your questions. While you're focused on the last two years, I would point out that when it comes to total shareholder return, that's share price appreciation plus dividends, we have led our industry across several time frames, including one, three, and five-year periods. Additionally, our stock price has been much more resilient than most with the recent market volatility. All that said, your question addresses a larger topic. Is ExxonMobil stock adequately valued? In that respect, I think we can certainly agree that it's not, at least not yet. You mentioned some of our major sources of value within the energy space, our unmatched upstream portfolio, including Guyana and our outstanding Permian acreage. Our other businesses are also competitively advantaged in delivering significant value. ExxonMobil isn't just a great energy company. We're a great company, period.
As of year-end 2024, we've grown cash flow from operations nearly four times as fast as large-cap S&P 500 industrial companies. We have a far stronger balance sheet. In fact, on a Moody's credit rating basis, just three companies in the S&P 500 have a higher credit rating than ours. That provides a buffer against price volatility and allows us to invest through cycles. Our valuation has lagged these large-cap industrials despite a better opportunity set and performance. It is clear we have room to grow. Our competitive advantages, the organization we've built, the opportunities we're capturing, the performance we're delivering, and the shareholder returns we're generating all add up to what we believe is a compelling investment case. A share of ExxonMobil offers cash income today, accretion through buybacks, and visible and resilient growth through exposure to existing and new markets.
We're confident that as we continue to execute our strategy and demonstrate leading results, the appropriate recognition in this stock market will follow.
All right. B, a beneficial owner, asks, what are you doing in response to the current unprecedented assault on our Constitution and on American values? Will you be caving to whatever demands are made by the administration or exploiting the weakening of legal protections related to business activities, employees, and the environment?
ExxonMobil takes a long-term view. We work with governments all around the world, so we're used to working with various administrations and political parties. Our values, principles, strategy, priorities, and plans don't change based on the administration. The investments we make and decisions we take extend well beyond a political time horizon. Long-term value is anchored in doing the right thing the right way. From our perspective, a thoughtful, balanced approach to policy that weighs both the cost and benefits to society is critical. Policy that supports modern living standards and extends it to disadvantaged populations around the world. We support policies that recognize the importance of energy security and maintain affordable fuel prices. We also support policy that drives responsible operations, policy that objectively evaluates and rationally addresses impacts on our environment.
We've had multiple conversations with the new administration, as we do with every administration, and we appreciate them listening to our views as they contemplate policy. We're also willing to engage and offer our perspectives when the discussions are constructive and helpful. We stand by and are proud of our consistent, principled approach in everything we do.
Okay. We've received a number of questions related to the impact of current administration policy, including how the Trump tariffs are going to affect ExxonMobil. Will energy prices be significantly affected?
The new administration has been very clear. Its goal is a level playing field to make sure competition is fair. We're supportive of that. From the beginning, we've been closely monitoring the situation and working to understand potential implications of announced tariffs, which, as you all know, continues to evolve. Despite the increased uncertainty it creates, our strategy is unchanged. Our advantaged and globally diverse portfolio provides a source of resilience to weather varying economic conditions. We have a diversified global supply chain and logistics operation that has successfully dealt with trade flow disruptions before. Think of hurricanes, Russian sanctions, and the Red Sea blockade, to name just a few. We have a strong track record of adapting to new situations and minimizing any negative impacts. The team has responded quickly and is working on multiple mitigation plans, including optimizing trade flows where feasible.
In the longer term, the secondary effects of tariffs, like impacts to global GDP growth and energy demand, are much more complex and remain a source of uncertainty. As I've said, we've built the business to excel in an uncertain market environment. We're staying focused on the things we can control, on ensuring we have the most competitive assets in the industry, maintaining our disciplined approach to capital allocation, and taking costs out of the business. Whatever transpires, I'm confident that our company will manage a successful outcome.
Okay. Jason, a beneficial owner, asks, ExxonMobil has talked a lot over the last couple of years about the future of its low-carbon solutions business. Without federal subsidies, does this business make sense anymore? Why not just focus on where the money is, oil and gas?
As I stated in the opening segment of this meeting, we are not defined by our products, but by our capabilities and unique combination of competitive advantages. We're leveraging these to deliver value in meeting society's evolving needs. The essence of Jason's question is whether society needs and is willing to pay for reductions in CO2 emissions. We think it makes sense to reduce emissions. Unfortunately, the approach policymakers have long taken to achieve this has been deeply flawed, with prescriptive, narrowly defined solutions that are impractical and unaffordable at scale. We're advocating for a different approach, a more thoughtful, affordable approach that reduces emissions without compromising living standards or economic growth and allows every company to leverage its strengths and core capabilities. We've been very clear that catalyzed emission reductions accelerate advances in technology and drive scale to improve cost.
Supporting government policy remains critical at this early stage. However, the world should rapidly transition to market forces with policy designed to drive this. That's why we advocate for market-forming policies that eliminate subsidies. In the meantime, we're working to demonstrate the value of a broader solution set. The projects we are pursuing compete for capital with our traditional businesses. Through 2030, roughly 90% of our planned capital investments are allocated to established, fully functioning markets for energy and products that require no policy support. Only about 10% is earmarked for nascent, lower-carbon markets. We think collectively our new business opportunities can generate $3 billion of earnings by 2030. By 2040, with the right market-forming policies and strong business development, we think that number could easily be $13 billion. That would be a 15% cumulative annual growth rate from 2030 out to 2040.
Okay. Douglas from Kentucky asks, why so many directors? If it takes that many directors, it means a lot of them aren't doing their job. A related question from another shareholder was, why don't you have more people that have worked in the oil and gas industry on the board? Please get rid of the activists. Look at people that work at lower levels in exploration, production, and marketing.
The nominating and governance committee carefully considers the collective skills and experience of the board to ensure the board can effectively meet its responsibilities. Individually and collectively, the directors on your board bring a mix of skills, experience, and knowledge. The effectiveness of the board reflects an ability to debate important topics and work together to capture the full strength of the group. The size of the board is secondary to its collective capabilities and competencies. Having said this, our board is of similar size to other large publicly traded companies and our industry peers. Each new director participates in comprehensive onboarding, which includes strategies, objectives for major business lines and functional organizations, the global outlook, technology, and capital allocation. In addition, the full board regularly visits ExxonMobil sites to meet with employees and experience our operations up close.
These processes, combined with the competencies and qualifications of our directors that we shared in our proxy statement, give us confidence that we have the right mix and breadth of expertise on the board.
All right. Paul, another beneficial owner, asks, it is exciting that ExxonMobil has had great success in Guyana. What has ExxonMobil done to help the Guyanese populace by providing education and mentoring to the large unemployed population?
Thanks for the question. Obviously, we're very proud of the work that we've been doing in Guyana. I'm confident it will go down as one of the most successful deep-water developments in the history of our industry. The progress we've made and the records we've achieved have created tremendous benefits for our shareholders and the Guyanese people. Many Guyanese are seeing their living standards rise rapidly, with GDP per capita more than tripling since we started production just over five years ago. The government's ability to invest in economic development has significantly increased, with almost $6.8 billion paid into the Guyana Natural Resource Fund since production began. In addition, we're helping the government provide the people of Guyana cheaper, more reliable electricity with significantly lower emissions. Working with the government, we helped launch a training facility, accelerating the development of Guyanese technicians that are now working offshore.
As of the end of 2024, 6,100 Guyanese workers supported ExxonMobil Guyana's activities. 72% of these workers are employed in skilled and semi-skilled positions. With our co-venturers, we are investing $100 million over a 10-year period, supporting economic diversification and improved healthcare. Over the last several years, we've supported initiatives that collectively impacted more than 250,000 people. Separately, ExxonMobil has invested more than $43 million in community projects focused on STEM education, youth sports, environmental sustainability, and women's economic development. Our work in Guyana is a great example of the win-win-win approach we take in establishing successful businesses for the long term. The project partners have to win, the government has to win, and the people have to win.
Okay. Darren, it looks like you have addressed the substance of all the other questions received. This will be our last question today. That is, Robert, a beneficial holder, asks, dear members of the board of directors, how has the Denbury acquisition gone, e.g., is it fully integrated with the company, and do we anticipate any new business with their assets? Thanks in advance for your response.
Robert asked about Denbury. Others are also interested in Pioneer, the two strategic acquisitions we've closed in the past several years. In both cases, our approach to acquisitions has allowed us to very successfully integrate Denbury and Pioneer into our base organization and truly realize the best of each company. Denbury further strengthened our carbon capture and storage business by giving us access to the largest owned and operated CO2 pipeline network in the U.S., as well as 15 strategically located onshore CO2 storage sites. We're now the only company with an end-to-end system capable of capturing, transporting, and storing carbon emissions. At 8.7 million tons per year, we've contracted more third-party CO2 for transport and storage than any other company in the world by far. Turning to Pioneer, ExxonMobil's acquisition of Pioneer created an unmatched industry-leading position in the Permian Basin.
The acquisition transformed ExxonMobil's upstream portfolio by more than doubling our footprint in the Permian. The integration continues to go extremely well. The integrated organization is combining best practices and capabilities in a variety of areas, with progress well ahead of plan. In fact, the annual average synergies we expect to capture have increased by more than 50% to more than $3 billion a year. I would add, we're just getting warmed up. The capabilities of the people coming from Pioneer are extraordinary. When combined with ExxonMobil's talent, it's been truly transformational. All said, these two acquisitions have provided significant benefits and are a critical part of our transformed company. Let me just end by saying I appreciate the questions and your participation in today's meeting. This concludes our Q&A session.
The authorized proxies in attendance today have cast all votes in accordance with the instructions indicated on the individual proxy cards. I now declare the polls closed. At this time, I'll turn it to Jim to report the preliminary results.
Okay. Thank you, Darren. Thank you again to our shareholders for voting your shares. According to the inspectors of election, there are 3.6 billion shares represented at this meeting. That is about 84% of outstanding shares entitled to vote. Subject to final tabulation of votes, which should not materially change the results, on average, 98% of the votes cast were voted to elect as directors the 12 nominees listed in the proxy statement. The ratification of independent auditors passed with about 97% voting in favor. Executive compensation was approved with approximately 92% in favor. This concludes this year's voting report. We thank the 70 registered and beneficial shareholders out of our total 6.2 million shareholders that have attended this meeting, as well as those listening in as guests. The written report of the inspector of election will be filed within minutes of the meeting.
The final votes on each of these matters will be available on our website and will be reported on Form 8K as soon as practical. With that, Darren will say a few words to close the meeting.
Thanks, Jim. I'm very proud of what our people have accomplished over the past few years. There's no doubt in my mind ExxonMobil employees are the best in the business. We never lose sight that we're working for you, our shareholders. We know you have options when it comes to investing your money. We're grateful for your trust to grow these investments over time and to do it better than our competitors. You have our commitment that we'll keep working to deliver the energy and products our world needs and to do it reliably, safely, and with lower emissions intensity in the decades ahead. We've made great progress with much more to come. Thank you. This concludes our meeting. Have a great day.