And he will attend the World Petroleum Congress to be given a lifetime achievement award for a career spent climbing up the ladder at ExxonMobil to the top rung.

In a background call to brief reporters on the trip, senior State Department officials mentioned the award in a single, passing sentence. But they deflected follow-up questions about when the award was granted and whether it violated his vow to recuse himself from matters involving ExxonMobil, where he spent his entire working life and retired after a decade as chief executive.

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The London-based World Petroleum Council, which bestows the award, could not be reached for comment. But some of the answers were available on the conference's website.

Tillerson is receiving the Dewhurst Award, the council's highest honor, in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the oil and gas industry” when he ran ExxonMobil before being tapped to become secretary of state.

He was selected for the award before he became Trump's top diplomat. It was announced in a council newsletter published in November, and Tillerson did not emerge as a contender until December.

Tillerson is only the 10th person to receive the Dewhurst Award, which is named after the former president of the Institute of Petroleum in Britain, the forerunner of the council. Most of them are former CEOs of big oil companies like Chevron, Shell and Petrobas, or royalty from Saudi Arabia and Qatar who were ministers or university presidents in the industry.

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The awards ceremony is in Istanbul because it is the venue for the World Petroleum Congress, which is described in the news release as the “Olympics of the oil and gas industry.” The notice says it is attended by 5,000 delegates, including 50 government ministers and 500 CEOS, plus 1,000 journalists to chronicle the event.

Tillerson's visit to the U.S. mission in Istanbul will be more low key, but no less meaningful for the employees in attendance. Whenever a secretary of state pays a visit, staff members typically bring their children to witness it and maybe shake the secretary's hand. For many, it's an event for the memory books. State Department employees based overseas often hang photographs in their home of themselves or their children posing with the secretary of state during visits to embassies and consulates around the world.