Researcher - other than the investments made at point thomson,  none of these costs can be deducted.  They aren't lease expenditures and they are not made by the lessees.

Why would Exxon have their top talent working on this project if they weren't serious? 

Again - why spend so much? 
Here's the thing with net profit systems: the only reason why we have billions in savings is because we went from a gross system (no deductions) to a net profit system that allows deductions to incentivize investment to get more production.