ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is the world’s largest oil and natural gas company.

As such, it has operations that span the globe.  But it surely must come as a surprise the recent news that ExxonMobil has leased 170,000 acres in West Virginia.  ExxonMobil and other Big Oil entities like Chevron (NYSE: CVX) are starting to ramp up operations in the Marcellus Shale area, which runs underneath West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

There should be a place for a company like ExxonMobil in every portfolio.

Big Oil outfits like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and others will not be delivering Big Growth.  Rather it will be solid, steady growth.  For ExxonMobil, growth over the next five years is expected to be in the 3.29 percent range for earnings.  Nothing major, but a bullish trend from previous growth in earnings.

It can be relied on that there will be solid growth in the amount of the dividend.

ExxonMobil is a Dividend Aristocrat.  That means it has increased its dividend annually for the last twenty five years.  That is a tremendous show of strength by ExxonMobil.  The dividend yield for ExxonMobil is now just under 2.8 percent.  That is much higher than the average for a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) are below 1.9 percent.  That makes ExxonMobil a very appealing income stock.

The balance sheet of ExxonMobil is robust.

There is no debt.  It is selling at a price-to-earnings ratio of under 13.  That is far below the average for a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.  Having a higher dividend yield and lower price-to-earnings ratio shows the superiority of ExxonMobil as an investment over others in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

ExxonMobil has been pretty much flat for 2014 in market action (chart below).

It is a solid blue chip in the energy sector.  Legendary investor Warren Buffett is also a major shareholder.  For investors, there is much about ExxonMobil from solid growth to a superior dividend yield to stellar financials that makes it an appealing holding for the long term.