ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American
multinational oil and gas
A fossil fuel is a hydrocarbon-containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that is extracted and combustion, burned as a fuel. The main fossil fuels are coal, petroleum, oil, and natura ...
corporation headquartered in
Irving, Texas
Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
. It is the largest direct descendant of
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
's
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
,
and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and
Mobil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
, both of which are used as retail brands, alongside
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
, for fueling stations and downstream products today. The company is
vertically integrated
In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...
across the entire oil and gas industry, and within it is also a chemicals division which produces plastic, synthetic rubber, and other chemical products.
ExxonMobil is incorporated in New Jersey.
ExxonMobil's earliest corporate ancestor was
Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for its ''Gargoyle'' 600-W steam cylinder motor oil. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Standar ...
, though Standard Oil is its largest ancestor prior to
its breakup. The entity today known as ExxonMobil grew out of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey (or Jersey Standard for short), the corporate entity which effectively controlled all of Standard Oil prior to its breakup. Jersey Standard grew alongside and with extensive partnership another Standard Oil descendant and its future merger partner, the
Standard Oil Company of New York Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object t ...
(Socony), both of which grew bigger by merging with various third companies like
Humble Oil
Humble Oil and Refining Co. is a defunct American oil company founded in 1911 in Humble, Texas. In 1919, a 50% interest in Humble was acquired by the Standard Oil of New Jersey which acquired the rest of the company in September 1959. The Humble b ...
(which merged with Jersey Standard) and Vacuum Oil (merged with Socony). Both companies underwent rebranding in the 1960s and early 1970s, and by the time of the 1999 merger, Jersey Standard had been known as Exxon, and Socony known as Mobil. The merger agreement between Exxon and Mobil stipulated that Exxon would buy Mobil and rebrand as ExxonMobil, with Mobil's CEO becoming the vice-chairman of the company.
One of the world's largest companies by revenue, ExxonMobil since its merger varied from the
first to tenth largest publicly traded company by revenue, and has one of the largest
market capitalization
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
s out of any company.
As of 2022, in the most recent rankings released in the
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...
, ExxonMobil was ranked sixth, and twelfth on the
Fortune Global 500
The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine.
Methodology
Until 1989, it listed onl ...
. ExxonMobil is the largest investor-owned oil company in the world, the largest oil company headquartered in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , and the largest of the
Big Oil
Big Oil is a name used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors. The term, particularly in the United States, emphasizes their economic power and influence ...
companies in both production and market value. ExxonMobil's reserves were 20 billion BOE at the end of 2016 and the 2007 rates of production were expected to last more than 14 years. With 21
oil refineries
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...
constituting a combined daily refining capacity of , ExxonMobil is the second largest oil refiner in the world, trailing only
Sinopec
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (中国石油化工股份有限公司) or Sinopec (), is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Beijing. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai.
Sinopec Limited's parent, Sinopec ...
. Approximately 55.56% of the company's shares are held by institutions, the largest of which as of 2019 were
The Vanguard Group
The Vanguard Group, Inc. is an American registered investment advisor based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with about $7 trillion in global assets under management, as of January 13, 2021. It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-lar ...
(8.15%),
BlackRock
BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...
(6.61%), and
State Street Corporation
State Street Corporation is an American financial services and bank holding company headquartered at One Lincoln Street in Boston with operations worldwide. It is the second-oldest continually operating United States bank; its predecessor, Un ...
(4.83%).
ExxonMobil has been widely criticized, mostly for environmental incidents and
its history of climate change denial against the scientific consensus that fossil fuels significantly contribute to
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. The company is responsible for many oil spills, the largest and most notable of which was the
''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill in Alaska, considered to be one of the world's worst oil spills in terms of damage to the environment. The company has also been the target of accusations of human rights violations, excessive influence on
America's foreign policy, and its impact on various societies across the world.
History
ExxonMobil traces its roots to
Vacuum Oil Company
Vacuum Oil Company was an American oil company known for its ''Gargoyle'' 600-W steam cylinder motor oil. After being taken over by the original Standard Oil Company and then becoming independent again, in 1931 Vacuum Oil merged with the Standar ...
, founded in the 1860s. Vacuum Oil later merged with the Standard Oil Company of New York, which later changed its name to Mobil and merged with Exxon (originally the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey) in 1999.
With the merger, the two companies practically merged, with the new company's name containing both of the trade names of its immediate predecessors. However, the structure of the merger provided that Exxon was the surviving company, rather than a new company being created.
Operations
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government-owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
ExxonMobil is
vertically integrated
In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...
into a number of global operating divisions. These divisions are grouped into three categories for reference purposes, though the company also has several standalone divisions, such as Coal & Minerals. It also owns hundreds of smaller subsidiaries such as
XTO Energy
XTO Energy Inc. is an American energy company and subsidiary of ExxonMobil principally operating in North America. Acquired by ExxonMobil in 2010 and based out of Spring, Texas, it is involved with the production, processing, transportation, and ...
and
SeaRiver Maritime
SeaRiver Maritime is a privately held subsidiary wholly owned by ExxonMobil. The company was formed in the early 1990s by Exxon when it spun off its maritime operations into the new company following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
In 1994 ...
. ExxonMobil also has a majority ownership stake in
Imperial Oil
Imperial Oil Limited (French: ''Compagnie Pétrolière Impériale Ltée'') is a Canadian petroleum company. It is Canada's second-biggest integrated oil company. It is majority owned by American oil company ExxonMobil with around 69.6 percent ...
.
*
Upstream
Upstream may refer to:
* Upstream (bioprocess)
* ''Upstream'' (film), a 1927 film by John Ford
* Upstream (networking)
* ''Upstream'' (newspaper), a newspaper covering the oil and gas industry
* Upstream (petroleum industry)
* Upstream (software ...
(oil exploration, extraction, shipping, and wholesale operations)
* Product Solutions (
downstream
Downstream may refer to:
* Downstream (bioprocess)
* Downstream (manufacturing)
* Downstream (networking)
* Downstream (software development)
* Downstream (petroleum industry)
* Upstream and downstream (DNA), determining relative positions on DNA ...
, chemical)
* Low Carbon Solutions
Upstream
The upstream division makes up the majority of ExxonMobil's revenue, accounting for approximately 70% of it. In 2021, ExxonMobil had about 30 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalents, as well as 38.1 billion cubic feet of
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
.
In the United States, ExxonMobil's petroleum exploration and production activities are concentrated in the
Permian Basin,
Bakken Formation
The Bakken Formation () is a rock unit from the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian age occupying about of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, underlying parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The formation was initi ...
,
Woodford Shale,
Caney Shale
Shale gas in the United States is an available source of unconventional natural gas. Led by new applications of hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling, development of new sources of shale gas has offset declines in production fro ...
, and the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
. In addition, ExxonMobil has several gas developments in the regions of
Marcellus Shale
Marcellus may refer to:
* Marcellus (name)
* Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Roman commander
Places
* Marcellus, Lot-et-Garonne, France
* Marcellus Township, Michigan
** Marcellus, Michigan, a village in Marcellus Township
** Marcellus Community Sch ...
,
Utica Shale
The Utica Shale is a stratigraphical unit of Upper Ordovician age in the Appalachian Basin. It
underlies much of the northeastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada.
It takes the name from the city of Utica, New York, as it was first d ...
,
Haynesville Shale
The Haynesville Shale is an informal, popular name for a Jurassic Period rock formation that underlies large parts of southwestern Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, and East Texas. It lies at depths of 10,500 to 13,000 feet below the land’s surfac ...
,
Barnett Shale
The Barnett Shale is a geological formation located in the Bend Arch-Fort Worth Basin. It consists of sedimentary rocks dating from the Mississippian period (354–323 million years ago) in Texas. The formation underlies the city of Fort Worth ...
, and
Fayetteville Shale
The Fayetteville Shale is a geologic formation of Mississippian age (354–323 million years ago) composed of tight shale within the Arkoma Basin of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is named for the city of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and requires hydraulic ...
. All natural gas activities are conducted by its subsidiary, XTO Energy. As of December 31, 2014, ExxonMobil owned in the United States, of which were offshore, of which were in the Gulf of Mexico.
In California, it has a joint venture called
Aera Energy LLC
Aera Energy LLC (or simply Aera) is a natural gas, oil exploration and production company started as a joint venture between Shell plc (through Shell USA) and Mobil (which later merged to form ExxonMobil). Headquartered in Bakersfield, Cal ...
with
Shell Oil. In Canada, the company holds , including offshore and of the
Kearl Oil Sands Project
The Kearl Oil Sands Project is an oil sands mine in the Athabasca Oil Sands region at the Kearl Lake area, about north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada. The project is being developed in three phases with the first phase completed mid-2013.
...
.
In Argentina, ExxonMobil holds , Germany , in the Netherlands ExxonMobil owns , in Norway it owns offshore, and the United Kingdom offshore. In Africa, upstream operations are concentrated in Angola where it owns offshore, Chad where it owns , Equatorial Guinea where it owns offshore, and Nigeria where it owns offshore.
In addition, ExxonMobil plans to start exploration activities off the coast of Liberia and the Ivory Coast.
In the past, ExxonMobil had exploration activities in Madagascar, however these operations were ended due to unsatisfactory results.
In Asia, it holds in Azerbaijan, in Indonesia, of which are offshore, in Iraq, in Kazakhstan, in Malaysia, in Qatar, in Yemen, in Thailand, and in the United Arab Emirates.
Until the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, ExxonMobil held in the
Sakhalin-I
The Sakhalin-I (russian: Сахалин-1) project, a sister project to Sakhalin-II, is a consortium for production of oil and gas on Sakhalin Island and immediately offshore. It operates three fields in the Okhotsk Sea: Chayvo, Odoptu and Arku ...
project through its subsidiary
Exxon Neftegas. Together with
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...
, it has developed in Russia, including the
East-Prinovozemelsky field
The East-Prinovozemelsky field (also referred as Vostochno-Prinovozemelskoye structure – meaning: East of Novaya Zemlya structure) is a gigantic undeveloped Arctic oil and gas field located in the South Kara basin of the continental shelf of Ru ...
. In Australia, ExxonMobil held , including offshore. It also operates the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, and participates in the development of
Gorgon LNG
The Gorgon gas project is a multi-decade natural gas project in Western Australia, involving the development of the Greater Gorgon gas fields, subsea gas-gathering infrastructure, and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island. The pr ...
project. In Papua New Guinea, it holds , including the
PNG Gas
Papua New Guinea has exported liquefied natural gas (LNG) since 2014. The LNG sector is important to PNG's economy with US$2.95 billion in exports in 2020, and accounting for 5.25% of the GDP in 2019. On a global scale, PNG is a minor player, with ...
project.
After Russia's 2022 invasion began, though, ExxonMobil announced it was fully pulling out of both Russia and Sakhalin-I, and launched a lawsuit against Russia's federal government on August 30.
Product Solutions
ExxonMobil formed its Product Solutions division in 2022, combining its previously separate Downstream and Chemical divisions into a single company.
Downstream and Retail
ExxonMobil markets products around the world under the brands of
Exxon,
Mobil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
, and
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
. Mobil is ExxonMobil's primary retail gasoline brand in California,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
New York,
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
,
the Great Lakes, and the
Midwest
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
. Exxon is the primary brand in the rest of the United States, with the highest concentration of retail outlets located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas (shared with Mobil), and in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. ExxonMobil has stations in 46 states, just behind
Shell USA and ahead of
Phillips 66, lacking a presence only in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, and
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
.
Outside of the United States, Esso and Mobil are primarily used, with Esso operating in 14 countries and Mobil operating in 29 countries and regions.
In Japan, ExxonMobil had a 22% stake in TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., a refining company which merged into Eneos in 2017.
ExxonMobil's primary retail brands worldwide are Exxon,
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
,
Mobil
Mobil is a petroleum brand owned and operated by American oil and gas corporation ExxonMobil. The brand was formerly owned and operated by an oil and gas corporation of the same name, which itself merged with Exxon to form ExxonMobil in 1999.
...
, with the former being used exclusively in the United States and the latter two being used in most other countries where ExxonMobil operates. Esso is the only one of its brands not used widely in the United States. Since 2018, ExxonMobil has operated a
loyalty program
A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...
, ExxonMobil Rewards+, where customers earn rewards points when filling up at its stations in the United States and later the United Kingdom.
Chemicals
ExxonMobil Chemical is a petrochemical company that was created by merging Exxon's and Mobil's chemical industries. Its principal products include basic
olefins and
aromatic
In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...
s,
ethylene glycol
Ethylene glycol (IUPAC name: ethane-1,2-diol) is an organic compound (a vicinal diol) with the formula . It is mainly used for two purposes, as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers and for antifreeze formulations. It is an odo ...
,
polyethylene
Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...
, and
polypropylene
Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene.
Polypropylene
belongs to the group of polyolefins and ...
along with speciality lines such as
elastomer
An elastomer is a polymer with viscoelasticity (i.e. both viscosity and elasticity) and with weak intermolecular forces, generally low Young's modulus and high failure strain compared with other materials. The term, a portmanteau of ''elastic p ...
s,
plasticizer
A plasticizer ( UK: plasticiser) is a substance that is added to a material to make it softer and more flexible, to increase its plasticity, to decrease its viscosity, and/or to decrease friction during its handling in manufacture.
Plasticiz ...
s,
solvent
A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
s, process fluids,
oxo alcohol Oxo alcohols are alcohols
In chemistry, an alcohol is a type of organic compound that carries at least one hydroxyl () functional group bound to a saturated carbon atom. The term ''alcohol'' originally referred to the primary alcohol ethanol ...
s and
adhesive
Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation.
The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...
resin
In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...
s. The company also produces synthetic lubricant base stocks as well as lubricant additives,
propylene
Propylene, also known as propene, is an unsaturated organic compound with the chemical formula CH3CH=CH2. It has one double bond, and is the second simplest member of the alkene class of hydrocarbons. It is a colorless gas with a faint petro ...
packaging films and
catalysts
Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recyc ...
. ExxonMobil is the largest producer of butyl rubber. Infineum, a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell, is manufacturing and marketing
crankcase lubricant additives,
fuel additive
Petrol additives increase petrol's octane rating or act as corrosion inhibitors or lubricants, thus allowing the use of higher compression ratios for greater efficiency and power. Types of additives include metal deactivators, corrosion inhib ...
s, and specialty lubricant additives, as well as
automatic transmission fluids,
gear oil
Gear oil is a lubricant made specifically for transmissions, transfer cases, and differentials in automobiles, trucks, and other machinery. It has high viscosity and usually contains organosulfur compounds. Some modern automatic transa ...
s, and industrial oils.
Sponsorships
Mobil 1
Mobil 1 is a brand of synthetic motor oil and other automotive lubrication products. Originally developed by the Mobil oil company, it is now globally marketed and sold by ExxonMobil.
Mobil 1 engine oil was introduced in 1974. The brand range no ...
, a brand of synthetic motor oil, is a major sponsor of multiple racing teams and as the official motor oil of
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
since 2003. ExxonMobil is currently in partnerships with
Oracle Red Bull Racing in
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
and Kalitta Motorsports.
Refineries
ExxonMobil operates 21 refineries worldwide, and the company claims 80% of its refining capacity is integrated with chemical or lube basestocks. ExxonMobil's largest refinery in the United States is its
Baytown Refinery, located in
Baytown, Texas, and its largest refinery overall is its
Jurong Island facility in
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
; these two refineries combined output over 1.15 million barrels of oil per day. In 2021, ExxonMobil's global average refining capacity was 4.6 million barrels per day, with the United States producing a plurality of the company's refining capacity at about 1.77 million barrels per day. ExxonMobil's corporate website claims it refines almost 5 million barrels per day.
Low Carbon Solutions
Officially formed with ExxonMobil's 2022 corporate restructuring, and currently led by former
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
president
Dan Ammann
Dan Ammann is a New Zealand business executive. He is the former CEO of Cruise, having served as the President of General Motors (GM) between 2015 and 2019. Ammann joined GM as Treasurer following its 2009 bankruptcy, and also served as the com ...
, Low Carbon Solutions is the company's alternative energy division. The division intends to lower emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as heavy industry, commercial transportation, and power generation using a combination of lower-emission fuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage. Low Carbon Solutions conducts research on clean energy technologies, including
algae biofuels
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from u ...
,
biodiesel
Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat (tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil with ...
made from agricultural waste, carbonate
fuel cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requ ...
s, and refining crude oil into plastic by using a
membrane
A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. B ...
and
osmosis
Osmosis (, ) is the spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential (region of ...
instead of heat.
ExxonMobil publicly announced it would be investing $15 billion in what it deemed a "lower carbon future", and claims to be the world leader in
carbon capture and storage
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and sequestration is the process of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) before it enters the atmosphere, transporting it, and storing it (carbon sequestration) for centuries or millennia. Usually th ...
. The company additionally plans that its
Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions will be
carbon neutral
Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the "p ...
by 2050. ExxonMobil additionally acquired biofuel company Biojet AS in 2022, and its Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil is moving ahead with plans to produce a renewable diesel biofuel.
Corporate affairs
Financial data
According to
Fortune Global 500
The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine.
Methodology
Until 1989, it listed onl ...
, ExxonMobil was the second largest company, second largest
publicly held corporation
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in Over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) comp ...
, and the largest oil company in the United States by 2017 revenue.
For the fiscal year 2020, ExxonMobil reported a loss of US$22.4 billion, with an annual revenue of US$181.5 billion, a decline of 31.5% over the previous fiscal cycle.
Headquarters and offices
ExxonMobil's headquarters are located in
Irving, Texas
Irving is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Located in Dallas County, it is also an inner ring suburb of Dallas. The city of Irving is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. According to a 2019 estimate from the United States Census Bureau, ...
, though the company is in the process of moving to a new campus located in
Spring, Texas
Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston in Harris County, Texas, United States, part of the metropolitan area. The population was 62,559 at the 2020 census. While the name "Spring" is popul ...
, a suburb of Houston.
The company decided to consolidate its Houston operations into one new campus located in northern
Harris County and vacating its offices on 800 Bell St. which it occupied since 1963. This includes twenty office buildings totaling , a wellness center, laboratory, and three parking garages. It is designed to house nearly 10,000 employees with an additional 1,500 employees located in a satellite campus in Hughes Landing in
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a special-purpose district and census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Texas in the Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. The Woodlands is primarily located in Montgomery County, with por ...
.
Board of directors
The current chairman of the board and CEO of ExxonMobil Corp. is Darren W. Woods. Woods was elected chairman of the board and CEO effective January 1, 2017, after the retirement of former chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson. Before his election as chairman and CEO, Woods was elected president of ExxonMobil and a member of the board of directors in 2016.
, the current ExxonMobil board members are:
* Michael J. Angelakis, chair and chief executive officer of Atairos Group Inc.
*
Susan Avery, president emerita of
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering.
Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
*
Angela Braly, former president and CEO of WellPoint (now
Anthem
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short ...
)
*
Ursula Burns
Ursula M. Burns (born September 20, 1958) is an American businesswoman. Burns is mostly known for being the CEO of Xerox from 2009 to 2016, the first among black women to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and the first woman to succeed another a ...
, former chair and CEO of
Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...
*
Gregory J. Goff, former executive vice chair,
Marathon Petroleum
*
Kaisa H. Hietala, board professional
* Joseph L. Hooley, former chair, president and CEO of
State Street
*
Steven A. Kandarian, chair, president and CEO of
MetLife
*
Alexander A. Karsner
Alexander Karsner (born April 5, 1967) is an American Entrepreneur, technology entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and policymaker, energy and environmental policymaker.
Karsner was most recently Managing Partner at Emerson Collective, where he fo ...
, senior strategist at
X Development
X Development LLC (formerly Google X) is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010, which now operates as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. X has its headquarters about a mile and a ...
*
Jeffrey W. Ubben, Founder, Portfolio Manager, and Managing Partner, Inclusive Capital Partners, L.P.
*
Darren W. Woods, chair of the board and CEO, ExxonMobil Corporation
Hooley is presently the lead independent director, having succeeded former
Merck
Merck refers primarily to the German Merck family and three companies founded by the family, including:
* the Merck Group, a German chemical, pharmaceutical and life sciences company founded in 1668
** Merck Serono (known as EMD Serono in the Unite ...
CEO
Kenneth Frazier
Kenneth Carleton Frazier (born December 17, 1954) is an American business executive. He is executive chairman and former CEO of the pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside of North America). After joining Merck & Co. as general ...
upon his retirement in May 2022. Three of the directors nominated at the last
Annual General Meeting were nominated after a proxy battle against hedge fund
Engine No.1 and were nominated against the suggestion of the board.
Key Executives
ExxonMobil's key executives are:
*
Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO
*Neil Chapman, Senior Vice President
*Kathryn Mikells, CFO and Senior Vice President
*Jack Williams, Senior Vice President
*James Spellings, General Tax Counsel and Vice President
Controversies
Climate change controversies and denial
ExxonMobil's environmental record
has faced much criticism for its stance and impact on global warming. In 2018, the
Political Economy Research Institute
The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) is an independent research unit at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. According to its mission statement, it "...promotes human and ecological well-being through our original research". PERI was ...
ranks ExxonMobil tenth among American corporations emitting
airborne pollutants
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
,
thirteenth by emitting
greenhouse gases
A greenhouse gas (GHG or GhG) is a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range, causing the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor (), carbon dioxide (), methane ...
,
and sixteenth by emitting
water pollutants
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water ...
.
A 2017 report places ExxonMobil as the fifth largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from 1988 to 2015., ExxonMobil had committed less than 1% of their profits towards researching alternative energy, which, according to the
advocacy organization
Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
, is less than other leading oil companies. According to the 2021 Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI), ExxonMobil is ranked as the 6th most environmentally responsible company among 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle. The company's activities gained international notoriety from many incidents, most notably the
''Exxon Valdez'' oil spill in 1979. As of 2020, ExxonMobil has been responsible for more than 3,000 oil spills and leakages which resulted in a loss of more than one barrel of oil, with the most in a single year being 484 spills in 2011. Additionally, since 1965, ExxonMobil has released more than 40 billion tons of
carbon dioxide pollution.
Between the 1980s and 2014, ExxonMobil was a notable denier of climate change, though the company officially changed its position in 2014 to acknowledge the existence of climate change. ExxonMobil's prolonged response incited the creation of the ''Exxon Knew'' movement, which aims to hold the company accountable for various climate-related incidents. ExxonMobil has used its website to attack ''Exxon Knew'', claiming that it is a coordinated effort to defame the company.
ExxonMobil's actives in Louisiana, specifically its
Baton Rouge Refinery, have given the area the nickname of ''
Cancer Alley
Cancer Alley (french: Allée du Cancer) is the regional nickname given to an stretch of land along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in the River Parishes of Louisiana, which contains over 150 petrochemical plants and ...
''. The company's activities, along with other operations and refineries in the area, have been the source of increased cancer infections, lower air quality, and as seen by some, potential environmental racism committed by the company.
Human rights violations in Indonesia
Beginning in the late 1980s, ExxonMobil (through predecessor Mobil) hired military units of the
Indonesian National Army
The Indonesian Army ( id, Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Darat (TNI-AD), ) is the land branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It has an estimated strength of 300,000 active personnel. The history of the Indonesian Army has its r ...
to provide security for their gas extraction and liquefaction project in
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
, Indonesia, with the military units being accused of committing human rights violations. ExxonMobil eventually pulled out completely of Indonesia in 2001, though the company denies any wrongdoing.
Geopolitical influence
The company has also been accused of human rights violations and abusing its geopolitical influence.
In the book ''Private Empire'' by
Steve Coll
Steve Coll (born October 8, 1958) is an American journalist, academic and executive.
He is currently the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he is also the Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism. A staff writer f ...
, ExxonMobil is described as extremely powerful in dealing with the countries in which it drills, going to the point as describing such countries' governments as "constrained". The company's corporate ancestors are also blamed for the outbreak of the 1954
Jebel Akhdar War
The Jebel Akhdar War ( ar, حرب الجبل الأخضر , Ḥarb al-Jebel el-ʾAkhḍar, lit=the Green Mountain War) , which was sparked by the
Iraq Petroleum Company
The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), formerly known as the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), is an oil company that had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq between 1925 and 1961. It is jointly owned by some of the worl ...
's activities.
See also
*
Esso
Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...
*
History of ExxonMobil
* Litigation involving ExxonMobil:
** ''
Connecticut v. ExxonMobil Corp.
''Connecticut v. ExxonMobil Corp'' is a climate change litigation case brought on ExxonMobil for seeking profit despite knowing the damages it would produce on the environment.
On Monday, September 15, 2020, Connecticut Connecticut Attorney Gene ...
''
** ''
Exxon Corp. v Exxon Insurance Consultants International Ltd''
** ''
Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp.''
Notes
References
Bibliography
* Bender, Rob, and Tammy Cannoy-Bender. ''An Unauthorized Guide to: Mobil Collectibles – Chasing the Red Horse''. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Co., 1999.
* Exxon Corp. ''Century of Discovery: An Exxon Album''. 1982.
* Gibb, George S., and Evelyn H. Knowlton. ''The Resurgent Years, 1911–1927: History of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey)''. New York:
Harper & Brothers
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
Publishers, 1956.
* Hidy, Ralph W., and Muriel E. Hidy. ''Pioneering in Big Business, 1882–1911: History of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey)''. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1955.
* Larson, Henrietta M., and Kenneth Wiggins Porter. ''History of Humble Oil & Refining Co.: A Study in Industrial Growth''. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1959.
* Larson, Henrietta M., Evelyn H. Knowlton, and Charles S. Popple. ''New Horizons, 1927–1950: History of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey)''. New York:
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
, 1971.
* McIntyre, J. Sam. ''The Esso Collectibles Handbook: Memorabilia from Standard Oil of New Jersey''. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Co., 1998.
* Sampson, Anthony. ''The Seven Sisters: The 100-year Battle for the World's Oil Supply''. New York: Bantom Books, 1991.
* Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey). ''Ships of the Esso Fleet in World War II''. 1946.
*
Tarbell, Ida M. ''All in a Day's Work: An Autobiography.''. New York: The MacMillan Co., 1939.
* Tarbell, Ida M., and
David Mark Chalmers
David Mark Chalmers (1927 - 25 October 2020) was an American historian.
PublicationsThe social and political ideas of the muckrakers(1964)The history of the Standard Oil Companywith Ida Minerva Tarbell
Ida Minerva Tarbell (November 5, 1857J ...
. ''
The History of the Standard Oil Co.''. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.
* Wall, Bennett H. ''Growth in a Changing Environment: A History of Standard Oil Co. (New Jersey) 1950–1972 and Exxon Corp. (1972–1975)''. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1988.
*
Yergin, Daniel. ''
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power''. New York:
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...
, 1991.
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
The ExxonMobil Historical Collection at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of TexasExxon Mobil Lobbying Profile – Opensecrets.org
{{Authority control, state=expanded
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