White House lifts parts of ExxonMobil press release

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTRK) -- The White House appeared to copy and paste parts of an official press release from an earlier news release sent to outlets by ExxonMobil.

The release from ExxonMobil was touting its planned investments of $20 billion in the Gulf region.

In it, the company included language about investments in new refining and chemical manufacturing.

Later Monday, the White House issued its own release, touting the investment and seemingly giving President Trump credit for the move.

One section of the news release appeared to be an exact copy of the ExxonMobil release.

Trump went on Twitter to congratulate the company, saying that "Buy American & hire American are the principals at the core of my agenda," although he apparently meant that those are among his principles.

Exxon's plan, however, started long before Trump entered the White House. It includes investments that were started in 2013.

In December, Trump plucked Exxon's then-CEO, Rex Tillerson, to be his secretary of state.

The company said it plans 10 expansion projects at current facilities around Beaumont and Baytown, Texas, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and wants to build a new chemicals plant at a location yet to be determined along the Gulf.

The sum of $20 billion would be roughly equal to Exxon's total capital spending last year. The company announced last week that it plans to increase overall investments to an average of $25 billion a year from 2018 to 2020.

Shares of the Irving, Texas-based company rose 37 cents to close at $82.83. They have lost about 8 percent so far this year.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.