Asked whether such storms might jeopardize the rig, Bob Kimberlin, a Mobil executive who is also president of the Hibernia Management and Development Company, said, "Not if our engineering calculations are correct."

No Talks Yet With Mobil Mr. Albertine said that Mr. Farley had not yet been in touch with Mobil executives.

A former Mobil executive, J. Bryan Williams, pleaded guilty last April to evading taxes on unreported income, including a $2 million kickback.

Pegasus - a classical mythological creature associated with strength, power and beauty - is coming alive after consumers, in focus groups, told Mobil executives how appealing the symbol was in several different campaign formats.

A top Mobil executive here, L. W. Allstadt, issued a statement in which he referred to Mr. Nakahara's decision as his own.

With most Mobil executives saying as little as possible for now, calls today to the local plant manager and a company spokesman did not elicit a response.

"I just sold two Georgetown houses to Mobil executives."

A Mobil executive, who insisted on not being identified, acknowledged that working with Exxon reduced concerns of potential losses, but she said that there were benefits, also.

The man who actually brought Harken and the Bahrainis together was Michael Ameen, a former Mobil executive in the Middle East with longstanding relations with the Bahrainis.

The attorney's office also charged J. Bryan Williams III, a former Mobil executive, with tax evasion relating to kickbacks from Mobil's business in Kazakhstan.