(Adds comments on carbon reduction in paragraphs 8-14)

By Sabrina Valle

HOUSTON, March 18 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) CEO

Darren Woods on Monday said his company is trying to secure

preemption rights over Hess Corp's ( HES ) Guyana assets in its

dispute with Chevron ( CVX ), not buy the company itself.

In his first public remarks on the company's pursuit of an

arbitration case that could block Chevron's ( CVX ) $53 billion deal for

Hess, Woods said Exxon would not have waited for Chevron ( CVX ) to

announce its Hess deal if it had wanted to buy Hess.

"We're basically standing up for what we believe is a

fundamental right," Woods told Reuters. Exxon is trying to

"secure and confirm the rights in that contract gives the

existing partners."

Exxon wants to "evaluate that value and do what is in the

best interest of Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) shareholders, given the investments

that we've made and all the work we've done to make that

successful."

Earlier this month, Exxon filed a contract arbitration claim

over Hess' proposed sale of its Guyana oil properties, a move

that left open the prospect of an Exxon counterbid.

The arbitration case seeks to preserve Exxon's right to

determine the value of Hess' 30% stake in the giant Stabroek

offshore oil block.

Hess and Chevron ( CVX ) have said they disagree with Exxon's

interpretation of the joint operating agreement that governs the

Exxon, Hess and CNOOC Ltd consortium responsible for

all of Guyana's oil production.

Chevron's ( CVX ) acquisition of Hess has been stalled by the U.S.

Federal Trade Commission's request for additional information on

the merger. That request pushed back any closing to at least the

middle of this year.

In remarks to a CERAWeek conference, Woods said he is not

confident that carbon capture and storage will "necessarily come

to the right solution."

Exxon last year

acquired Denbury Inc

for $4.9 billion in a move that gave it a ready-made

business to acquire and move carbon dioxide and bury it

underground. U.S. tax credits for reducing planet-warming gases

two years ago set off a race to build carbon capture sites.

In addition to Denbury, Exxon has spent tens of millions

of dollars to acquire acreage off the coast of Texas to bury

gases from its own petrochemical and others plants.

Carbon capture and storage works for high concentration

streams of the gases, Woods said, but it is too expensive for

low-concentration streams.

He also raised concerns about development of hydrogen

gas, a fuel that generates no carbon emissions when burned, as a

replacement for fossil fuels.

"There isn't a lot of incentives" to drive low-carbon

hydrogen fuel projects, he also said.

Governments have been promoting hydrogen as a clean fuel

for power plants and transportation, providing tax credits and

incentives for facilities that use solar and wind to produce

hydrogen.