or '''ExxonMobil''' (), a multi-national
American corporation and a direct descendant of
John D. Rockefeller 's
Standard Oil company
1, is the largest
Publicly Traded integrated
Petroleum and
Natural Gas company in the world, formed on
November 30 ,
1999 , by the merger of
Exxon and
Mobil . ExxonMobil is the world's largest company by revenue, at $377.6 billion in its fiscal year of
2006 . It is also the largest corporation by
Market Capitalization , at $517.92 billion on
July 20 ,
2007 . It is the largest of the six oil
Supermajor s with daily production of 6.5m boe (
Barrels Of Oil Equivalent ). ExxonMobil ranks first in the world in proven oil and gas reserves among corporate oil producers, though it is still eclipsed by several of the largest state petroleum producers.
=Organization=
The Exxon Mobil Corporation global headquarters are located in
Irving, Texas . ExxonMobil markets products around the world under the brands of
Exxon ,
Mobil , and
Esso . It also owns hundreds of smaller subsidiaries such as
Imperial Oil Limited (66% ownership), an oil retailer in Canada, and
SeaRiver Maritime , a petroleum shipping company.
The upstream division dominates the company's cashflow, accounting for approximately 70% of revenue. The company employs over 82,000 people worldwide, as indicated in ExxonMobil's 2006 Corporate Citizen Report, with approximately 4,000 employees in its Fairfax downstream headquarters and 27,000 people in its Houston upstream headquarters.
ExxonMobil is organized functionally into a number of global operating divisions. These divisions are grouped into three categories for reference purposes, though the company also has several ancillary divisions, such as Coal & Minerals, which are stand alone.
Operating divisions by category are as follows:
- Upstream
- --- ExxonMobil Exploration Company
- --- ExxonMobil Development Company
- --- ExxonMobil Production Company
- --- ExxonMobil Gas and Power Marketing Company
- --- ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
- Downstream
- --- ExxonMobil Refining and Supply Company
- --- ExxonMobil Fuels Marketing Company
- --- ExxonMobil Lubricants & Specialties Company
- --- ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company
- Chemical
- --- ExxonMobil Chemical Company
- ExxonMobil Global Services Company
- --- ExxonMobil Information Technology
- --- Global Real Estate and Facilities
- --- Global Procurement
- --- Business Support Centers
=History=
The Exxon Mobil Corporation was formed in 1999 by the merger of two major oil companies, Exxon and Mobil. Both Exxon and Mobil were descendants of the
John D. Rockefeller corporation,
Standard Oil which was established in 1870. The reputation of Standard Oil in the public eye suffered badly after publication of
Ida M. Tarbell 's classic exposé ''
The History Of The Standard Oil Company '' in 1904, leading to a growing outcry for the government to take action against the company.
By 1911, with
Public Outcry at a climax, the
Supreme Court Of The United States ruled that Standard Oil must be dissolved and split into 34 companies. Two of these companies were
Jersey Standard ("Standard
Oil Company of New Jersey"), which eventually became Exxon, and
Socony ("Standard Oil Company of New York"), which eventually became Mobil.
In the same year, the nation's
Kerosene output was eclipsed for the first time by
Gasoline . The growing
Automotive market inspired the product
Trademark Mobiloil, registered by Socony in 1920.
Over the next few decades, both companies grew significantly. Jersey Standard, led by oil producer. Socony purchased a 45 percent interest in
Magnolia Petroleum Co. , a major refiner, marketer and pipeline transporter. In
1931 , Socony merged with Vacuum Oil Co., an industry pioneer dating back to 1866 and a growing Standard Oil spin-off in its own right.
In the
Asia-Pacific region, Jersey Standard had oil production and refineries in
Indonesia but no marketing network. Socony-Vacuum had Asian marketing outlets supplied remotely from California. In 1933, Jersey Standard and Socony-Vacuum merged their interests in the region into a 50-50 joint venture. Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., or "Stanvac," operated in 50 countries, from
East Africa to
New Zealand , before it was dissolved in 1962.
Mobil
Chemical Company was established in
1960 . As of 1999, its principal products included basic
Olefin s and
Aromatic s,
Ethylene Glycol and
Polyethylene . The company produced synthetic lubricant base stocks as well as lubricant additives,
Propylene packaging films and
Catalysts . Exxon Chemical Company (first named Enjay Chemicals) became a worldwide organization in 1965 and in 1999 was a major producer and marketer of olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and
Polypropylene along with specialty lines such as
Elastomer s,
Plasticizer s,
Solvent s, process fluids,
Oxo Alcohol s and
Adhesive Resin s. The company was an industry leader in
Metallocene Catalyst technology to make unique polymers with improved performance.
In
1955 , Socony-Vacuum became Socony Mobil Oil Co. and in 1966 simply Mobil Oil Corp. A decade later, the newly incorporated Mobil Corporation absorbed Mobil Oil as a
Wholly Owned Subsidiary . Jersey Standard changed its name to Exxon Corporation in 1972 and established Exxon as a trademark throughout the
United States . In other parts of the world, Exxon and its affiliated companies continued to use its Esso trademark.
On
March 24 ,
1989 , the
Exxon Valdez Oil Tanker struck
Bligh Reef in
Prince William Sound ,
Alaska and spilled more than 11 million gallons (42,000 m³) of crude oil. The
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill was the second largest in U.S. history, and in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez incident, the
U.S. Congress passed the
Oil Pollution Act Of 1990 . The company is still appealing a $2.5 billion
USD Punitive ruling, and has not paid any damages yet.
In 1998, Exxon and Mobil signed a US$73.7 billion definitive agreement to merge and form a new company called ExxonMobil Corporation, the largest company on the planet. After
Shareholder and regulatory approvals, the merger was completed on
November 30 ,
1999 . The merger of Exxon and Mobil was unique in
American History because it reunited the two largest companies of
John D. Rockefeller 's
Standard Oil trust, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey/Exxon and Standard Oil Company of New York/Mobil, which had been forcibly separated by government order nearly a century earlier. As a result of the merger, it became largest merger in US corporate history.
In 2000, ExxonMobil sold a refinery in
Benicia, California and 340 Exxon-branded stations to
Valero Energy Corporation , as part of an
FTC -mandated divestiture of California assets. ExxonMobil continues to supply
Petroleum Product s to over 700 Mobil-branded retail outlets in California.
In 2005, ExxonMobil's
Stock Price surged in parallel with rising
Oil Prices , surpassing
General Electric as the largest corporation in the world in terms of
Market Capitalization . At the end of 2005, it reported record profits of US $36 billion in annual income, up 42% from the previous year (the overall annual income was an all-time record for annual income by any business, and included $10 billion in the third quarter alone, also an all-time record income for a single quarter by any business). The company and the
American Petroleum Institute , the oil and chemical industry's lobbying apparatus, tried to downplay its success in order to avoid consumer criticism by putting up page-long ads in major
American Newspapers , such as ''
The New York Times '', ''
The Washington Post '', comparing oil industry profits to those of other large industries such as pharmaceuticals and banking.
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4662474.stm
=Corporate citizenship=
companies, causes the rest to disappear without leaving much trace among Angola's poor. from
Africa Files How Angolan State corruption and the lack of oil company and banking transparency has contributed to Angola's humanitarian and development catastrophe. from
Africa Action
In 2003, the
Office Of Foreign Assets Control reported that ExxonMobil engaged in illegal trade with
Sudan and it, along with dozens of other companies, settled with the United States government for $50,000.CNN. "Wal-Mart,
NY Yankees , others settle charges of illegal trading." April 14, 2003.
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In March 2003, James Giffen of the Mercator Corporation was indicted, accused of bribing President .
In a
U.S. Department Of Justice release dated September 18, 2003, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District Of New York announced that J. Bryan Williams, a former senior executive of Mobil Oil Corporation, had been sentenced to three years and ten months in prison on charges of evading
Income Tax es on more than $7 million in unreported income, "including a $2 million kickback he received in connection with Mobil's oil business in Kazakhstan." According to documents filed with the court, Williams' unreported income included millions of dollars in kickbacks from governments, persons, and other entities with whom Williams conducted business while employed by Mobil. In addition to his sentence, Williams must pay a fine of $25,000 and more than $3.5 million in restitution to
The IRS , in addition to penalties and interest.
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ExxonMobil is the target of human rights activists for actions taken by the corporation in the
Indonesia n territory of
Aceh . In June 2001 a lawsuit against ExxonMobil was filed in the Federal
District Court of
The District Of Columbia under the
Alien Tort Claims Act . The suit alleges that the ExxonMobil knowingly assisted human rights violations, including
Torture ,
Murder and
Rape , by employing and providing material support to
Indonesian Military forces, who committed the alleged offenses during
Civil Unrest in Aceh. Human rights complaints involving ExxonMobil's relationship with the Indonesian military first arose in 1992; the company denies these accusations and has filed a
Motion To Dismiss the suit, which as of 2006 is still pending.International
Labor Rights Fund. "ExxonMobil: How the Company is Linked with Indonesian Military Killings, Torture and other Severe Abuse in Aceh, Indonesia."
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The company does not provide domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples, although former Mobil employees receive that benefit.http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/09/news/companies/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm According to a proxy statement from ExxonMobil, the company "has zero tolerance discrimination and harassment policies" on "discrimination and harassment for any reason, including sexual orientation."http://sec.edgar-online.com/2004/04/14/0001047469-04-011934/Section10.asp ExxonMobil scored a 0 out of 100 on the
Corporate Equality Index 2006 for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender People .
ExxonMobil's environmental record has been a consistent target of critics, not only from outside organizations like
GreenPeace but also from institutional investors unhappy about its stance on global warming.http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Big_US_Pension_Fund_Joins_Critics_Of_ExxonMobil_Climate_Stance_999.html ExxonMobil currently ranks sixth on the Toxic 100 list of US corporate air polluters by Political Economy Research Institute (PERI)
(PERI) THE TOXIC 100: Top Corporate Air Polluters in the United State
See Also: Exxon Valdez oil spill
The March 24, 1989
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill resulted in the discharge of approximately 11 million gallons of oil (240,000 barrels) into
Prince William Sound .
2, oiling 1300 miles of the remote Alaskan coastline. The State of Alaska's Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council stated that the spill "is widely considered the number one spill worldwide in terms of damage to the environment", but many
Larger Spills have occurred.
Exxon was widely criticized for its slow response to cleaning up the disaster. John Devens, the Mayor of Valdez, has said his community felt betrayed by Exxon's inadequate response to the crisis.http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/crisis03.html Exxon later removed the name "Exxon" from its tanker shipping subsidiary, which it renamed "
SeaRiver Maritime ." The renamed subsidiary, though wholly Exxon-controlled, has a separate corporate charter and board of directors, and the former ''
Exxon Valdez '' is now the ''SeaRiver Mediterranean''. The renamed tanker is legally owned by a small, stand-alone company, which would have minimal ability to pay out on claims in the event of a further accident.The
Baltimore Sun . "Even Renamed, Exxon Valdez can't Outlive Stain on its Past." October 15, 2002.
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ExxonMobil has yet to pay any of the $2.5 billion
USD in punitive damages owed to 33,000 fishermen, businesses, and affected communities as a result of the spill.
3 Exxon had argued that it should pay no more than $25 million in punitive damages in the case, and the case is currently on appeal to the
United States Supreme Court .
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