ExxonMobil
Exxon Mobil Corporation is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company was formed in 1999, with the merger of Exxon and Mobil. It is vertically integrated across the entire oil and gas industry, as well as within its chemicals division, which produces plastic, synthetic rubber, and other chemical products. As the largest U.S.-based oil and gas company, ExxonMobil is the eighth-largest company by revenue in the U.S. and 13th-largest in the world. It is also the largest investor-owned oil company in the world. Approximately 55.56% of the company's shares are held by institutions, the largest of which, as of 2019, were The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, and State Street Corporation.
The company has been widely criticized and sued, mostly for environmental incidents and its history of climate change denial against the scientific consensus that fossil fuels significantly contribute to global warming. The company is responsible for many oil spills, the largest and most notable of which was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, considered to be one of the world's worst oil spills in terms of environmental damage. The company has also been accused of human rights violations and exerting excessive influence on American foreign policy and developing countries.
History
Originally, Vacuum Oil Company was founded in 1866. Vacuum Oil later was acquired by Standard Oil in 1879, divested from Standard in 1911 with its legally-mandated breakup, and merged by the Standard Oil Company of New York, later known as Mobil, in 1931. After the 1911 breakup, Standard Oil continued to exist through its New Jersey subsidiary, and retained its name in much of the eastern United States. Jersey Standard grew by acquiring Humble Oil in the 1930s and became the dominant oil company on the world stage.The company's lack of ownership over the Standard Oil name across the United States, however, prompted a name change to unify all of its brands under one name, choosing Exxon in 1972 instead of continuing to use the three distinct brands Esso, Enco, and Humble Oil.
In 1998, the two companies agreed to merge and form ExxonMobil, with the deal closing on November 30, 1999. 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 and bought Mobil, rather than a new company being created. Following the merger, Exxon's NYSE ticker symbol was changed from "XON" to "XOM".
Operations
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government-owned company in the international energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.ExxonMobil is vertically integrated 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 and SeaRiver Maritime. ExxonMobil also has a majority ownership stake in Imperial Oil.
- Upstream
- Product Solutions
- '''Low Carbon Solutions'''
Upstream
In the United States, ExxonMobil's petroleum exploration and production activities are concentrated in the Permian Basin, Bakken Formation, Woodford Shale, Caney Shale, and the Gulf of Mexico. ExxonMobil also has gas developments in the regions of Marcellus Shale, Utica Shale, Haynesville Shale, Barnett Shale, and Fayetteville Shale. 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 with Shell Oil. In Canada, the company holds, including offshore and of the Kearl Oil Sands Project.
In Argentina, ExxonMobil holds and in 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. ExxonMobile previously had exploration activities in Madagascar, but ended these operations 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.
ExxonMobil exited the West Qurna 1 oilfield in January 2024, officially ending all energy sector operations in Iraq. The share is now owned by PetroChina and Pertamina.
In March 2024, ExxonMobil discovered oil at the Stabroek block off the coast of Guyana using a drillship. By the end of 2027, it plans to have 6 FPSOs at the block. Oil was discovered off the coast of Angola in May 2024 in a well drilled from February to April in the Kizomba B development area.
Russia operations
Until the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, ExxonMobil held in the Sakhalin-I project through its subsidiary Exxon Neftegas. Together with Rosneft, it has developed in Russia, including the East-Prinovozemelsky field. 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.Australia operations
In Australia, ExxonMobil held, including offshore. It also operates the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, and participates in the development of Gorgon LNG project.Papua New Guinea operations
In Papua New Guinea, it holds, including the PNG Gas project.Product Solutions
ExxonMobil formed its Product Solutions division in 2022, combining its previously separate Downstream and Chemical divisions into a single company.On October 1, 2024, Nigeria approved the $1.28 billion sale of Exxon Mobil's onshore assets to Seplat Energy, more than two years after the deal was first agreed upon in February 2022
Downstream and retail
ExxonMobil markets products around the world under the brands of Exxon, Mobil, and Esso. Mobil is ExxonMobil's primary retail gasoline brand in California, Florida, New York, New England, the Great Lakes, and the Midwest. 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, 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, Hawaii, Iowa, and Kansas.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 that merged into Eneos in 2017.
ExxonMobil's primary retail brands worldwide are Exxon, Esso, Mobil, 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 2008, Mobil is the only brand for the company lubricants. Since 2018, ExxonMobil has operated a loyalty program, 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 in 1999. Its principal products include basic olefins and aromatics, ethylene glycol, polyethylene, and polypropylene along with speciality lines such as elastomers, plasticizers, solvents, process fluids, oxo alcohols and adhesive resins. The company also produces synthetic lubricant base stocks as well as lubricant additives, propylene packaging films and catalysts. ExxonMobil is the world's largest producer of butyl rubber. Infineum, a joint venture with Shell plc, is manufacturing and marketing crankcase lubricant additives, fuel additives, and specialty lubricant additives, as well as automatic transmission fluids, gear oils, and industrial oils.Sponsorships
, a brand of synthetic motor oil, is a major sponsor of multiple racing teams and the official motor oil of NASCAR since 2003. ExxonMobil is currently in partnerships with Oracle Red Bull Racing in Formula One and Kalitta Motorsports.Refineries
ExxonMobil operates 21 refineries worldwide, and claims that 80% of its refining capacity is integrated with chemical or lube basestocks. ExxonMobil's largest refinery overall is its Beaumont Refinery and its second largest in the United States is its Baytown Refinery, located in Baytown, Texas. After ExxonMobile committed thousands of violations of federal law at its Baytown facilities between 2005 and 2013, ExxonMobile was ordered to pay $19.95 million, a decision affirmed in 2024 by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.Its second largest refinery overall is its Jurong Island facility in Singapore. 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.
ExxonMobil was one of few U.S. refiners to expand capacity by a significant margin following an industry downturn suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company completed a 250,000 barrels per day expansion at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery in early 2023.