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Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power
In Private Empire Steve Coll investigates the largest and most powerful private corporation in the United States, revealing the true extent of its power. ExxonMobil’s annual revenues are larger than the economic activity in the great majority of countries. In many of the countries where it conducts business, ExxonMobil’s sway over politics and security is greater than that of the United States embassy. In Washington, ExxonMobil spends more money lobbying Congress and the White House than almost any other corporation. Yet despite its outsized influence, it is a black box.
Private Empire pulls back the curtain, tracking the corporation’s recent history and its central role on the world stage, beginning with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and leading to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The action spans the globe, moving from Moscow, to impoverished African capitals, Indonesia, and elsewhere in heart-stopping scenes that feature kidnapping cases, civil wars, and high-stakes struggles at the Kremlin. At home, Coll goes inside ExxonMobil’s K Street office and corporation headquarters in Irving, Texas, where top executives in the “God Pod” (as employees call it) oversee an extraordinary corporate culture of discipline and secrecy.
The narrative is driven by larger than life characters, including corporate legend Lee “Iron Ass” Raymond, ExxonMobil’s chief executive until 2005. A close friend of Dick Cheney’s, Raymond was both the most successful and effective oil executive of his era and an unabashed skeptic about climate change and government regulation.. This position proved difficult to maintain in the face of new science and political change and Raymond’s successor, current ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, broke with Raymond’s programs in an effort to reset ExxonMobil’s public image. The larger cast includes countless world leaders, plutocrats, dictators, guerrillas, and corporate scientists who are part of ExxonMobil’s colossal story.
The first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobil, Private Empire is the masterful result of Coll’s indefatigable reporting. He draws here on more than four hundred interviews; field reporting from the halls of Congress to the oil-laden swamps of the Niger Delta; more than one thousand pages of previously classified U.S. documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act; heretofore unexamined court records; and many other sources. A penetrating, newsbreaking study, Private Empire is a defining portrait of ExxonMobil and the place of Big Oil in American politics and foreign policy.
Winner of the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2012
Private Empire pulls back the curtain, tracking the corporation’s recent history and its central role on the world stage, beginning with the Exxon Valdez accident in 1989 and leading to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The action spans the globe, moving from Moscow, to impoverished African capitals, Indonesia, and elsewhere in heart-stopping scenes that feature kidnapping cases, civil wars, and high-stakes struggles at the Kremlin. At home, Coll goes inside ExxonMobil’s K Street office and corporation headquarters in Irving, Texas, where top executives in the “God Pod” (as employees call it) oversee an extraordinary corporate culture of discipline and secrecy.
The narrative is driven by larger than life characters, including corporate legend Lee “Iron Ass” Raymond, ExxonMobil’s chief executive until 2005. A close friend of Dick Cheney’s, Raymond was both the most successful and effective oil executive of his era and an unabashed skeptic about climate change and government regulation.. This position proved difficult to maintain in the face of new science and political change and Raymond’s successor, current ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, broke with Raymond’s programs in an effort to reset ExxonMobil’s public image. The larger cast includes countless world leaders, plutocrats, dictators, guerrillas, and corporate scientists who are part of ExxonMobil’s colossal story.
The first hard-hitting examination of ExxonMobil, Private Empire is the masterful result of Coll’s indefatigable reporting. He draws here on more than four hundred interviews; field reporting from the halls of Congress to the oil-laden swamps of the Niger Delta; more than one thousand pages of previously classified U.S. documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act; heretofore unexamined court records; and many other sources. A penetrating, newsbreaking study, Private Empire is a defining portrait of ExxonMobil and the place of Big Oil in American politics and foreign policy.
Winner of the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2012
704 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
713 people are currently reading
8338 people want to read
About the author
Steve Coll
16 books916 followersSteve Coll is President & CEO of New America Foundation, and a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine. Previously he spent 20 years as a foreign correspondent and senior editor at The Washington Post, serving as the paper's managing editor from 1998 to 2004.
He is author six books, including The Deal of the Century: The Break Up of AT&T (1986); The Taking of Getty Oil (1987); Eagle on the Street, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the SEC's battle with Wall Street (with David A. Vise, 1991); On the Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia (1994), Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004); and The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (2008).
Mr. Coll's professional awards include two Pulitzer Prizes. He won the first of these, for explanatory journalism, in 1990, for his series, with David A. Vise, about the SEC. His second was awarded in 2005, for his book, Ghost Wars, which also won the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross award; the Overseas Press Club award and the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book published on international affairs during 2004. Other awards include the 1992 Livingston Award for outstanding foreign reporting; the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for his coverage of the civil war in Sierra Leone; and a second Overseas Press Club Award for international magazine writing.
Mr. Coll graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude, from Occidental College in 1980 with a degree in English and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.
He is author six books, including The Deal of the Century: The Break Up of AT&T (1986); The Taking of Getty Oil (1987); Eagle on the Street, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the SEC's battle with Wall Street (with David A. Vise, 1991); On the Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia (1994), Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004); and The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (2008).
Mr. Coll's professional awards include two Pulitzer Prizes. He won the first of these, for explanatory journalism, in 1990, for his series, with David A. Vise, about the SEC. His second was awarded in 2005, for his book, Ghost Wars, which also won the Council on Foreign Relations' Arthur Ross award; the Overseas Press Club award and the Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book published on international affairs during 2004. Other awards include the 1992 Livingston Award for outstanding foreign reporting; the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award for his coverage of the civil war in Sierra Leone; and a second Overseas Press Club Award for international magazine writing.
Mr. Coll graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude, from Occidental College in 1980 with a degree in English and history. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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May 14, 2012Oh, you know I had to read this. OK, first things first: this book is only for the hardcore. I mean, you have to be REALLY interested in Exxy Mobes to get through 600+ pages of dense material here. I am about as highly motivated a reader as Steve Coll is likely to find, but it just gets loooong. OK, next: its not a hatchet job. I found it overall quite fair. It is extensively researched and gets the fundamentals of the energy business right (for example: the name of the game for oil/gas companies is reserves replacement, everything else is a sideshow). The substance is accurate and generally criticizes where criticism is warranted (though praise is perhaps a bit spare and the stories that he chooses to explore in depth seem selected with a preference for showing the company in a negative light). One thing I found off: the whole “private empire” construct just doesn’t work. As Coll himself states in the introduction, he wanted to write a book about American corporate power and how it is its own force – separate and apart from traditional government power. And he kind of jams everything into that frame, especially when talking about ExxonMobil’s operations overseas. He keeps repeating phrases like “…but ExxonMobil didn’t consider itself a tool of American diplomacy; it was its own private empire.” Well, what private American company DOES consider itself a tool of US diplomacy? And is the opposite of that running a “private empire?” I found the whole idea flawed, and never substantiated – or really even explained. He just repeatedly cues the Darth Vader music and then moves on. So, given that that is a, maybe THE, central theme in the book, its an important flaw. Moreover, it assumes an omnipotence that is laughably far from what reality feels like in the company – beleaguered, subject to the whim of geology and fickle, irrational, and sometimes venal governments – both foreign and here at home. For all of Coll’s seeming attempts to show some unholy alliance between ExxonMobil and the US government (when he isn’t trying to prove the “private empire” thesis), what is actually demonstrated, even when Lee Raymond is running ExxonMobil and his buddy Dick Cheney is in the White House, is that the USG and private companies pursue their own respective interests. Sometimes those interests intersect, sometimes they don’t. But all in all, the USG doesn’t spend a huge amount of time thinking about whats best for ExxonMobil, and ExxonMobil doesn’t spend a huge amount of time thinking about whats best for the USG. What he gets very right is the culture of the company – diligent, priggish, smart as hell, data-driven, disciplined and rigorous to a fault, unsentimental. I have laughed with some ex-military guys in the company about how easy the transition must have been. And he captures very well the transition from Lee Raymond, the extremely hard-assed former CEO, to Rex Tillerson – a transition that held some subtle but important shifts in company policy. And he demonstrates some of the “can’t win” dynamics that surround a company as big and with as much baggage as Exxon – for years the company was criticized for climate denialism, but when Tillerson came out in favor of a carbon tax, it was seen as a poison pill in the cap-and-trade debate rather than a considered decision; for years the company was criticized for its lack of investment in alternative energy, but when they made a major investment in algae biofuels, many critics dismissed it as a marketing gimmick ($600 million would be a pretty expensive marketing gimmick). At any rate, I suspect this book will be a lot more ExxonMobil than people really want to curl up with. But I found it overall well-done and fair, if one cuts through the sinister and ominous smoke that wafts about in the tone of the book (starting with the black cover and scary title) and focuses on the substance.
November 29, 2018
I want to add this to my previous review because this book is still relevant for understanding this major global corporation.
"ExxonMobil is currently engaged in litigation involving accounting methods, constitutional rights, and if the US Supreme Court hears the case, personal jurisdiction. Ironically, the company’s opposition to the New York and Massachusetts investigations is happening while ExxonMobil has otherwise been more engaged in climate change discussions, whether in advocating for a carbon tax or addressing potential climate change risks in response to a shareholder resolution. While the company appears to remain confident that future climate change policies and regulations will not materially impact its operations or financial well-being, it remains to be seen what effect the recent New York lawsuit will have on that message. Investors, especially activist investors and other concerned stakeholders will be paying great attention as to how the lawsuit unfolds and what information is gained regarding the use of proxy costs. That, in turn, should serve as a warning to oil and gas and other carbon-intensive companies, who should exercise caution in assessing how climate change impacts are measured internally and externally, how those risks are communicated to shareholders, and whether those messages are consistent." American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/en...
Most of us think we know ExxonMobil, but (and I promise to keep my puns to a minimum) like their major investments, much lies below the surface. I learned a lot from Coll's book because he:
1. Avoids a lot of jargon;
2. Keeps any political agenda to a minimum;
3. Gives us lay people an understanding of Exxon's world in a way we can understand;
4. Describes how complex it is to run a business of this size and diversity: and,
5. Highlights the lurking corporatocracy in this company's dealings in the USA and foreign countries.
I wonder if he were writing it in 2014 would he:
1. Give us more of a focus on the company's attitude(s) toward climate change?
2. Discuss more about their bedfellows in lobbying?
3. Focus on investments such as their multi-billion dollar play in algae?
4. Draw more links between USA's foreign policy and Exxon's interests.
Plenty of documentation for the research and interviews Coll conducted make this a thought-provoking read.
"ExxonMobil is currently engaged in litigation involving accounting methods, constitutional rights, and if the US Supreme Court hears the case, personal jurisdiction. Ironically, the company’s opposition to the New York and Massachusetts investigations is happening while ExxonMobil has otherwise been more engaged in climate change discussions, whether in advocating for a carbon tax or addressing potential climate change risks in response to a shareholder resolution. While the company appears to remain confident that future climate change policies and regulations will not materially impact its operations or financial well-being, it remains to be seen what effect the recent New York lawsuit will have on that message. Investors, especially activist investors and other concerned stakeholders will be paying great attention as to how the lawsuit unfolds and what information is gained regarding the use of proxy costs. That, in turn, should serve as a warning to oil and gas and other carbon-intensive companies, who should exercise caution in assessing how climate change impacts are measured internally and externally, how those risks are communicated to shareholders, and whether those messages are consistent." American Bar Association, Section of Environment, Energy and Resources. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/en...
Most of us think we know ExxonMobil, but (and I promise to keep my puns to a minimum) like their major investments, much lies below the surface. I learned a lot from Coll's book because he:
1. Avoids a lot of jargon;
2. Keeps any political agenda to a minimum;
3. Gives us lay people an understanding of Exxon's world in a way we can understand;
4. Describes how complex it is to run a business of this size and diversity: and,
5. Highlights the lurking corporatocracy in this company's dealings in the USA and foreign countries.
I wonder if he were writing it in 2014 would he:
1. Give us more of a focus on the company's attitude(s) toward climate change?
2. Discuss more about their bedfellows in lobbying?
3. Focus on investments such as their multi-billion dollar play in algae?
4. Draw more links between USA's foreign policy and Exxon's interests.
Plenty of documentation for the research and interviews Coll conducted make this a thought-provoking read.
January 15, 2013
This is an indelible picture of the long-standing oil enterprise. Even though the style is understated, factual (and sometimes sardonic) we are given an up-close view, of what for all intents and purposes, is a most nefarious business. It’s not what they are doing, but the way they are doing it. Extracting oil is their primary activity – what happens to the environment and the people in the land they occupy is all secondary. Only recently – when Rex Tillerson took the helm of ExxonMobil in 2006 did it begin to acknowledge that global warming and climate change were occurring. Prior, they were in full denial.
If you are going to take on ExxonMobil be thoroughly prepared – one scientist remarked, on a court case against ExxonMobil that at the end they had become “better scientists”.
The estimates of the reserves of both natural gas and oil have risen over the last few years – partially because of new discoveries and new technology. However the extraction processes are still in the development stages and getting to these reserves is becoming more and more environmentally invasive – leading to more global warming. ExxonMobil (as do the other major oil companies) have nicely documented procedures on how to deal with oil spills and other environmental calamities – but this is just paper – the actual resources (equipment such as planes, trucks...) to carry-out the cleanup of the catastrophe only partially exist. ExxonMobil devotes a significant portion of their environmental documentation on dealing with the media.
The saddest and most revealing parts of the book are how ExxonMobil inhabits impoverished countries. There are cogent chapters on ExxonMobil in Indonesia, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Nigeria. The author demonstrates that in the African countries the quality of living has not improved (not so sure about Indonesia). While it may not be ExxonMobil role to manage the distribution of wealth in these societies – they themselves are profiting immensely from these ventures. One could argue that this is exploitation pure and simple. After all, if one goes into a country and makes a ton of money should you not give something in return? Shouldn’t you ensure that it is just not a small group of the country’s leaders (family members) who keep the wealth?
This book is a powerful and searing depiction of a multinational. We are given a narrative of their leaders (Lee Raymond and Rex Tillerson) plus many other people and companys’. The author is somewhat dismissive of the electric car and how it would impact the oil and car manufacturing industry. This would lead to a substantial decrease in fuel consumption and thus slow down global warming. Why is it that industrialized Europe uses less fuel consumption per capita that North America?
At the end of this book we know that ExxonMobil is very successful at its’ core business and does it very well. But there is a large moral quandary to it all.
If you are going to take on ExxonMobil be thoroughly prepared – one scientist remarked, on a court case against ExxonMobil that at the end they had become “better scientists”.
The estimates of the reserves of both natural gas and oil have risen over the last few years – partially because of new discoveries and new technology. However the extraction processes are still in the development stages and getting to these reserves is becoming more and more environmentally invasive – leading to more global warming. ExxonMobil (as do the other major oil companies) have nicely documented procedures on how to deal with oil spills and other environmental calamities – but this is just paper – the actual resources (equipment such as planes, trucks...) to carry-out the cleanup of the catastrophe only partially exist. ExxonMobil devotes a significant portion of their environmental documentation on dealing with the media.
The saddest and most revealing parts of the book are how ExxonMobil inhabits impoverished countries. There are cogent chapters on ExxonMobil in Indonesia, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Nigeria. The author demonstrates that in the African countries the quality of living has not improved (not so sure about Indonesia). While it may not be ExxonMobil role to manage the distribution of wealth in these societies – they themselves are profiting immensely from these ventures. One could argue that this is exploitation pure and simple. After all, if one goes into a country and makes a ton of money should you not give something in return? Shouldn’t you ensure that it is just not a small group of the country’s leaders (family members) who keep the wealth?
This book is a powerful and searing depiction of a multinational. We are given a narrative of their leaders (Lee Raymond and Rex Tillerson) plus many other people and companys’. The author is somewhat dismissive of the electric car and how it would impact the oil and car manufacturing industry. This would lead to a substantial decrease in fuel consumption and thus slow down global warming. Why is it that industrialized Europe uses less fuel consumption per capita that North America?
At the end of this book we know that ExxonMobil is very successful at its’ core business and does it very well. But there is a large moral quandary to it all.
July 27, 2012
Disclaimer: I worked for and been involved in Exxon's major competitor since 2006, and therefore my perspective of Exxon and this book in general may be skewed. A lot of the focus of the book is based on this recent history of Exxon, which I was actually fortunate to have lived through and experienced, so I may have more of an appreciation of what the author is trying to portray about the company and the industry during the time.
That being said, I found this book extremely entertaining and true to the sentiment of what most non-Exxon people in the industry feel about Exxon. Admittedly, the content of the book was slightly different to what I had expected. I had expected some individual's viewpoints and preachy commentary, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the entire book pretty much comprised of detailed and very visual anecdotes. The overall tone of the book is very objective, and the author is definitely not trying to force anything down the reader's throat, and I appreciate this aspect of the writing very, very much.
The truth just simply is that Exxon is an extremely large and powerful company driven by stakeholder profits, and is very successful at what it does. It currently holds a credit rating better than that of the US. Us "smaller" oil companies (and the general public as well, I suppose) like to diss the company as evil and unethical, but maybe Exxon's strategy of completely disengaging itself from "morals" is exactly what makes the company so profitable in the first place. I am personally very proud of the approach my employer takes in contrast to Exxon in terms of how it treats host countries and deal with community issues, but the author did remind my guilty heart that my employer can probably do this because Exxon paves the way and opens the doors of hostile markets through its "f*ck you, we're Exxon" attitude, and we just have to slip in from behind. So kudos to Exxon and the niche it had paved in the industry and the US economy.
Love it or hate it, one still has to admit, that this formidable monster of a corporation does affect so much of the every contemporary person's life. The author did a very good job of depicting a very sensitive topic in a very objective, readable tone.
That being said, I found this book extremely entertaining and true to the sentiment of what most non-Exxon people in the industry feel about Exxon. Admittedly, the content of the book was slightly different to what I had expected. I had expected some individual's viewpoints and preachy commentary, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the entire book pretty much comprised of detailed and very visual anecdotes. The overall tone of the book is very objective, and the author is definitely not trying to force anything down the reader's throat, and I appreciate this aspect of the writing very, very much.
The truth just simply is that Exxon is an extremely large and powerful company driven by stakeholder profits, and is very successful at what it does. It currently holds a credit rating better than that of the US. Us "smaller" oil companies (and the general public as well, I suppose) like to diss the company as evil and unethical, but maybe Exxon's strategy of completely disengaging itself from "morals" is exactly what makes the company so profitable in the first place. I am personally very proud of the approach my employer takes in contrast to Exxon in terms of how it treats host countries and deal with community issues, but the author did remind my guilty heart that my employer can probably do this because Exxon paves the way and opens the doors of hostile markets through its "f*ck you, we're Exxon" attitude, and we just have to slip in from behind. So kudos to Exxon and the niche it had paved in the industry and the US economy.
Love it or hate it, one still has to admit, that this formidable monster of a corporation does affect so much of the every contemporary person's life. The author did a very good job of depicting a very sensitive topic in a very objective, readable tone.
July 9, 2021
Until recently, when Amazon emerged as such a deserving target of opprobrium, ExxonMobil was, without doubt, our country’s most-hated corporation. The two companies may compete for that distinction today. Private Empire is Steve Coll’s admirable attempt to explain the truth about ExxonMobil—how and why the world’s most profitable private oil company became a pariah, and it has changed in recent years. Oh, yes, it has changed. And recently, years after the publication of this book, shareholders won a rare victory to change it even more.
John D. Rockefeller’s favorite offspring
Unless you’re under the age of 40, you were already aware of the Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska in 1989. It was the country’s biggest oil spill until BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. You may also know that ExxonMobil is the direct descendant of the Standard Oil trust assembled in the 19th Century by the quintessential robber baron, John D. Rockefeller. So the company’s historic unpopularity may not be a surprise to you.
ExxonMobil came into existence in its present form in 1999, with the acquisition of Mobil Oil, another Standard offspring. By that point, it had already been rivaling its ancestor for public displeasure for a decade as a result of Exxon Valdez. Steve Coll’s book appeared two years after the BP disaster. “Fortune had ranked the corporation as America’s sixth most admired before the accident,” he notes. “Afterward, it fell to one hundred and tenth.” And it can hardly have risen during the past decade, as ExxonMobil is still considered the poster child for climate change denial. (Fortune no longer assigns ranking numbers below the top fifty.)
Engineers with the One Right Answer
It’s no mystery why ExxonMobil stayed so unpopular many years after the Exxon Valdez spill. A heavy-handed Texan named Lee Raymond (1938-) set the company’s tone and policy during his 12-year reign as CEO (1993-2005). “Exxon maintained a ‘kind of 1950s Southern religious culture,’ said an executive who served on the corporation’s board of directors during the Raymond era. ‘They’re all engineers, mostly white males, mostly from the South . . . They shared a belief in the One Right Answer, that you would solve the equation and that would be the answer, and it didn’t need to be debated.'”
Whatever that One Right Answer might have been, it was closely held unless Raymond thought it needed to be made public. As one new employee he brought on observed, “the oil corporation’s system for maintaining confidential information was far more severe than anything she had seen while holding top secret clearance at the White House.” The truth about ExxonMobil was what Lee Raymond said it was.
A turnaround on climate change
Raymond insisted that scientists hadn’t proved the reality of human-caused global warming. That led the company to invest in Right-Wing think tanks and other front groups campaigning against any proposals to regulate carbon emissions. But Raymond’s successor, Rex Tillerson (1952-), despite his similar background, proved far more resilient on the issue. He discontinued the corporation’s active opposition to seeking climate change solutions. Later, Tillerson took a high-profile public position in favor of a carbon tax. Tillerson’s willingness to deal with climate change may help explain his short tenure as US Secretary of State in the Trump Administration.
As Coll notes, “Rex Tillerson believed that transformational change would upend the oil business and global energy economy eventually. Breakthrough batteries might be the pathway, or breakthrough biofuels, or cheaper, more efficient solar technology, or some combination of those technologies, or perhaps something unimagined in the present. Not anytime soon, however. For two decades and probably much longer, Tillerson’s Management Committee concluded . . . [that] ExxonMobil could feel secure about its investments in oil and gas.” Thus, the hidden truth about ExxonMobil was that life would go on unchanged for one of the world’s largest companies for decades to come.
Ahead, years of increasing environmental costs
Like Daniel Yergin in his excellent book, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, Coll debunks the notion of Peak Oil, quoting ExxonMobil executives on the significant evidence against it. However, what both authors underplay is that the large new deposits of oil and natural gas the companies are adding to their reserves, seemingly by the day, tend to require more expensive and environmentally more damaging methods of extraction. Peak Oil may not be a reality, but we’re surely in for years of increasing costs, both financial and environmental, to extract fossil fuels. And that seems certain even if the leadership of the world’s major countries manage to cap and then reduce carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, there seems little likelihood of that. ExxonMobil’s own strategic plan projects rising sales of petroleum and natural gas at least until 2030—by which point the total load of carbon in the atmosphere will be so great that many of the world’s coastal cities will all be likely to drown in rising water by the end of the century.
Global interests, not national
Private Empire showcases Coll’s exhaustive research on ExxonMobil in its 700 pages. The book is structured chronologically, focusing on the period from 1989 to 2011. Along the way, Coll constructs detailed scenarios that reveal the issues confronting the company in a number of countries where it sources oil or gas (or mightily tries to do so): Chad, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Russia, Iraq, and Qatar, among others. “ExxonMobil’s interests were global, not national,” he writes. Though the book is subtitled ExxonMobil and American Power, Coll makes clear that the corporation is anything but an expression of American power. In fact, he details the sometimes fractious relationship the company had even with the oil-friendly Administration of George W. Bush, despite Lee Raymond’s friendship with Vice President Dick Cheney.
Private Empire is a modern-day testimonial to the even-handedness of “objective journalism.” Coll almost never reveals his personal feelings about the company and its misdeeds. In fact, the book will probably be read by some as an apologia for ExxonMobil. It’s not: the author is just too good at ferreting out the facts. On balance, it’s entirely clear why so many people hate ExxonMobil with such fervor.
About the author
Steve Coll is currently Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism and a staff writer for the New Yorker. One of America’s most outstanding journalists, he has won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for his reporting on the SEC, the other for his 2005 book Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. From 2007 to 2012 he worked as President and CEO of a Washington think tank, New America, having previously served as an editor of The Washington Post.
John D. Rockefeller’s favorite offspring
Unless you’re under the age of 40, you were already aware of the Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska in 1989. It was the country’s biggest oil spill until BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. You may also know that ExxonMobil is the direct descendant of the Standard Oil trust assembled in the 19th Century by the quintessential robber baron, John D. Rockefeller. So the company’s historic unpopularity may not be a surprise to you.
ExxonMobil came into existence in its present form in 1999, with the acquisition of Mobil Oil, another Standard offspring. By that point, it had already been rivaling its ancestor for public displeasure for a decade as a result of Exxon Valdez. Steve Coll’s book appeared two years after the BP disaster. “Fortune had ranked the corporation as America’s sixth most admired before the accident,” he notes. “Afterward, it fell to one hundred and tenth.” And it can hardly have risen during the past decade, as ExxonMobil is still considered the poster child for climate change denial. (Fortune no longer assigns ranking numbers below the top fifty.)
Engineers with the One Right Answer
It’s no mystery why ExxonMobil stayed so unpopular many years after the Exxon Valdez spill. A heavy-handed Texan named Lee Raymond (1938-) set the company’s tone and policy during his 12-year reign as CEO (1993-2005). “Exxon maintained a ‘kind of 1950s Southern religious culture,’ said an executive who served on the corporation’s board of directors during the Raymond era. ‘They’re all engineers, mostly white males, mostly from the South . . . They shared a belief in the One Right Answer, that you would solve the equation and that would be the answer, and it didn’t need to be debated.'”
Whatever that One Right Answer might have been, it was closely held unless Raymond thought it needed to be made public. As one new employee he brought on observed, “the oil corporation’s system for maintaining confidential information was far more severe than anything she had seen while holding top secret clearance at the White House.” The truth about ExxonMobil was what Lee Raymond said it was.
A turnaround on climate change
Raymond insisted that scientists hadn’t proved the reality of human-caused global warming. That led the company to invest in Right-Wing think tanks and other front groups campaigning against any proposals to regulate carbon emissions. But Raymond’s successor, Rex Tillerson (1952-), despite his similar background, proved far more resilient on the issue. He discontinued the corporation’s active opposition to seeking climate change solutions. Later, Tillerson took a high-profile public position in favor of a carbon tax. Tillerson’s willingness to deal with climate change may help explain his short tenure as US Secretary of State in the Trump Administration.
As Coll notes, “Rex Tillerson believed that transformational change would upend the oil business and global energy economy eventually. Breakthrough batteries might be the pathway, or breakthrough biofuels, or cheaper, more efficient solar technology, or some combination of those technologies, or perhaps something unimagined in the present. Not anytime soon, however. For two decades and probably much longer, Tillerson’s Management Committee concluded . . . [that] ExxonMobil could feel secure about its investments in oil and gas.” Thus, the hidden truth about ExxonMobil was that life would go on unchanged for one of the world’s largest companies for decades to come.
Ahead, years of increasing environmental costs
Like Daniel Yergin in his excellent book, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, Coll debunks the notion of Peak Oil, quoting ExxonMobil executives on the significant evidence against it. However, what both authors underplay is that the large new deposits of oil and natural gas the companies are adding to their reserves, seemingly by the day, tend to require more expensive and environmentally more damaging methods of extraction. Peak Oil may not be a reality, but we’re surely in for years of increasing costs, both financial and environmental, to extract fossil fuels. And that seems certain even if the leadership of the world’s major countries manage to cap and then reduce carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, there seems little likelihood of that. ExxonMobil’s own strategic plan projects rising sales of petroleum and natural gas at least until 2030—by which point the total load of carbon in the atmosphere will be so great that many of the world’s coastal cities will all be likely to drown in rising water by the end of the century.
Global interests, not national
Private Empire showcases Coll’s exhaustive research on ExxonMobil in its 700 pages. The book is structured chronologically, focusing on the period from 1989 to 2011. Along the way, Coll constructs detailed scenarios that reveal the issues confronting the company in a number of countries where it sources oil or gas (or mightily tries to do so): Chad, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, Russia, Iraq, and Qatar, among others. “ExxonMobil’s interests were global, not national,” he writes. Though the book is subtitled ExxonMobil and American Power, Coll makes clear that the corporation is anything but an expression of American power. In fact, he details the sometimes fractious relationship the company had even with the oil-friendly Administration of George W. Bush, despite Lee Raymond’s friendship with Vice President Dick Cheney.
Private Empire is a modern-day testimonial to the even-handedness of “objective journalism.” Coll almost never reveals his personal feelings about the company and its misdeeds. In fact, the book will probably be read by some as an apologia for ExxonMobil. It’s not: the author is just too good at ferreting out the facts. On balance, it’s entirely clear why so many people hate ExxonMobil with such fervor.
About the author
Steve Coll is currently Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism and a staff writer for the New Yorker. One of America’s most outstanding journalists, he has won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for his reporting on the SEC, the other for his 2005 book Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. From 2007 to 2012 he worked as President and CEO of a Washington think tank, New America, having previously served as an editor of The Washington Post.
February 1, 2017
I picked this up to understand Rex Tillerson's background and learned a whole lot more, especially about big oil, about which I knew very little. Coll's thesis is that the enormous, gigantic, world-spanning company Exxon/Mobil is a bigger actor in some countries than the US: for example, the amount of US aid to a country like Chad is dwarfed by the amount of money Chad earns from letting E/M drill for oil there. So who calls the shots? It will be interesting, shall we say, to see how Tillerson, a lifelong E/M guy (and it's a very strict, rule-driven engineering culture) will adapt to working for the US and taking a very different role in countries like Chad, and more importantly, Russia.
February 26, 2013
I gained a greater level of insight into the multinational workings of the oil industry. We start out with the Exxon Valdez disaster and end with the Deepwater Horizon well cap blowout. (The later is a BP problem and not Exxon) In between; its business in failing states, terrorists, torture and benign neglect in Ache, Washington lobbing, and trying repair popular opinion. A very interesting book.
I like Steve Coll a lot. Petro chemicals are going to be with us for a long time. With or without global warming.
I like Steve Coll a lot. Petro chemicals are going to be with us for a long time. With or without global warming.
June 10, 2012
In Private Empire, Steve Coll examines the structure, motivation, activities, and impact of the combined oil giant, ExxonMobil, since the creation of the company by merger in 1999. Coll investigates every aspect of the company, including its internal operational process, dealings with foreign governments, manipulation of environmental "science", and the company responses to accidents, starting with the Exxon Valdez. The book is vast and comprehensive, and packed with details and careful analysis. The book is vast, definitive, and some very complicated issues. Key takeaways for me were:
1. The overriding importance of “Booked reserves” or “equity oil”, those proven reserves that a corporation controlled legally and could exploit for sale in future years. In order to maintain profitability and stock price, every single barrel of oil processed in a given year must be replaced by another. The imperative is the single most important factor driving the relationships into which ExxonMobil enters globally.
2. ExxonMobil culture is driven by the Operations Integrity Management System, or O.I.M.S., “more vinyl binders than you can possibly imagine, every single goddamn aspect of how we operate,” as a former executive put it. O.I.M.S was developed post-Exxon Valdez to insure that the company never again suffered such a disaster. Comprehensive in scope, "O.I.M.S. involved “Framework Expectations” about eleven “Elements.” These included the basic challenge of risk assessment and management. O.I.M.S. section 2.1 declared, “Risk is managed by identifying hazards, assessing consequences, and probabilities.” Five subsections of the rule outlined how to achieve this goal through the use of data, documentation, and outside evaluators. The system also addressed human frailty in the workplace. Section 5.5 prescribed that Exxon employees should “routinely identify and eliminate their at-risk behaviors and those of their co-workers” while ensuring that “Human Factors, workforce engagement, and leadership behaviors are addressed.”
3. The leadership of ExxonMobil conceives of the company as a private empire, with no ties of loyalty or obligation to the United States, or indeed anyone but themselves. The company can and does aggressively pursue policies and positions that are indirect opposition to those of the U.S. Government. To give but one example of many, the company chief executive, Lee Raymond, to reject the Kyoto Protocol being negotiated by the Clinton administration: "It was extraordinary for the chief executive of a U.S.-headquartered multinational to lobby against a treaty he disliked by appealing to a Chinese Communist government, among others, to adopt a negotiating position opposed to a sitting American president. Raymond believed, however, that his obligation as Exxon’s chief executive was not primarily to support American diplomacy—and certainly not when he disagreed with its assumptions so profoundly. The Beijing address was “seminal,” recalled Frank Sprow, a senior Exxon executive who worked closely with Raymond on the climate issue."
4. And yet, ExxonMobil won't hesitate for a heartbeat to reach out to the U.S. government and demand action when it suits them:"In Washington, recalled a State Department official involved as the attacks worsened, “the oil companies kept telling us, ‘Goddamnit, can’t the C.I.A. and the navy solve this problem? We’ll tell you where they [the militants] are. . . . Why can’t you fix this swampy corner? It’s a bunch of pirates. Why can’t you just send the navy in there and fix this?’”
5. While funding bogus "science" to cast doubt on the reality of global warming, the company, knowing the truth, is preparing to exploit resources made available by the impact of global warming: "These investments in skeptics of the scientific consensus coincided with what at least a few of ExxonMobil’s own managers regarded as a hypocritical drive inside the corporation to explore whether climate change might offer new opportunities for oil exploration and profit. One of ExxonMobil’s most accomplished earth scientists, Peter Vail, had won acclaim for his insights into how changes on the earth’s surface affected ocean levels and other geological shifts. Vail had developed a calculation known as the Vail curve to describe some of these ocean events. In the ExxonMobil upstream division in Houston, scientists in charge of finding new deposits of oil and gas began to explore whether Vail’s scientific insights might give them a leg up in exploration by allowing them to predict how climate change—if it did materialize—might alter surface and ocean trends and lead the corporation to new oil finds. “So don’t believe for a minute that ExxonMobil doesn’t think climate change is real,” said a former manager involved with the internal scientific review. “They were using climate change as a source of insight into exploration.” This work remained unpublicized.
This is an excellent book, eye opening, full of detail, and well worth the substantial investment in time and effort to read.
1. The overriding importance of “Booked reserves” or “equity oil”, those proven reserves that a corporation controlled legally and could exploit for sale in future years. In order to maintain profitability and stock price, every single barrel of oil processed in a given year must be replaced by another. The imperative is the single most important factor driving the relationships into which ExxonMobil enters globally.
2. ExxonMobil culture is driven by the Operations Integrity Management System, or O.I.M.S., “more vinyl binders than you can possibly imagine, every single goddamn aspect of how we operate,” as a former executive put it. O.I.M.S was developed post-Exxon Valdez to insure that the company never again suffered such a disaster. Comprehensive in scope, "O.I.M.S. involved “Framework Expectations” about eleven “Elements.” These included the basic challenge of risk assessment and management. O.I.M.S. section 2.1 declared, “Risk is managed by identifying hazards, assessing consequences, and probabilities.” Five subsections of the rule outlined how to achieve this goal through the use of data, documentation, and outside evaluators. The system also addressed human frailty in the workplace. Section 5.5 prescribed that Exxon employees should “routinely identify and eliminate their at-risk behaviors and those of their co-workers” while ensuring that “Human Factors, workforce engagement, and leadership behaviors are addressed.”
3. The leadership of ExxonMobil conceives of the company as a private empire, with no ties of loyalty or obligation to the United States, or indeed anyone but themselves. The company can and does aggressively pursue policies and positions that are indirect opposition to those of the U.S. Government. To give but one example of many, the company chief executive, Lee Raymond, to reject the Kyoto Protocol being negotiated by the Clinton administration: "It was extraordinary for the chief executive of a U.S.-headquartered multinational to lobby against a treaty he disliked by appealing to a Chinese Communist government, among others, to adopt a negotiating position opposed to a sitting American president. Raymond believed, however, that his obligation as Exxon’s chief executive was not primarily to support American diplomacy—and certainly not when he disagreed with its assumptions so profoundly. The Beijing address was “seminal,” recalled Frank Sprow, a senior Exxon executive who worked closely with Raymond on the climate issue."
4. And yet, ExxonMobil won't hesitate for a heartbeat to reach out to the U.S. government and demand action when it suits them:"In Washington, recalled a State Department official involved as the attacks worsened, “the oil companies kept telling us, ‘Goddamnit, can’t the C.I.A. and the navy solve this problem? We’ll tell you where they [the militants] are. . . . Why can’t you fix this swampy corner? It’s a bunch of pirates. Why can’t you just send the navy in there and fix this?’”
5. While funding bogus "science" to cast doubt on the reality of global warming, the company, knowing the truth, is preparing to exploit resources made available by the impact of global warming: "These investments in skeptics of the scientific consensus coincided with what at least a few of ExxonMobil’s own managers regarded as a hypocritical drive inside the corporation to explore whether climate change might offer new opportunities for oil exploration and profit. One of ExxonMobil’s most accomplished earth scientists, Peter Vail, had won acclaim for his insights into how changes on the earth’s surface affected ocean levels and other geological shifts. Vail had developed a calculation known as the Vail curve to describe some of these ocean events. In the ExxonMobil upstream division in Houston, scientists in charge of finding new deposits of oil and gas began to explore whether Vail’s scientific insights might give them a leg up in exploration by allowing them to predict how climate change—if it did materialize—might alter surface and ocean trends and lead the corporation to new oil finds. “So don’t believe for a minute that ExxonMobil doesn’t think climate change is real,” said a former manager involved with the internal scientific review. “They were using climate change as a source of insight into exploration.” This work remained unpublicized.
This is an excellent book, eye opening, full of detail, and well worth the substantial investment in time and effort to read.
June 12, 2012
Some parts of this very detailed look at the world according to ExxonMobile are riveting - The Exxon Valdez disaster opens the book and draws one into the Big Oil story immediately. After a too-brief recounting of the reaction of Exxon to this high-profile spill, there is a too-brief "How we got here" segment which goes as far back as the breaking up of the mammoth Standard Oil into baby companies, of which ExxonMobile is one, formerly known as Esso, which is short for Standard Oil of New Jersey. Whew. And then it becomes the world according to Lee Raymond, CEO. Exxon recruits mainly from southern and midwestern universities, and mainly engineers or scientists. The corporate atmosphere is very regimented and homogeneous, almost cult-like or Amway in its boosterism and insularity. Exxon doesn't advertise like it used to and it doesn't really lobby like other people do. It just sends straight-as-an-arrow, arrogant engineers with Power Point presentations to educate the rubes about oil. Exxon believes, or did for years, that nobody not in the oil business understood the "global oil market," by which they appeared to mean that they might be bad, but if they were prohibited from some bad actions by US law, other companies from countries without scruples would just step in and buy the oil anyway. In other words, you need us more than we need you, suckers. ExxonMobile screwed the people of Alaska out of proper compensation for the continuing pollution of Prince William Sound, as BP is doing in the Gulf. They took it through the courts till all the original parties were dead, and believe that's just business played the hard way. When some public interest groups tried to do in-depth research to see if there was still oil in the sound and how it affected wildlife, ExxonMobil followed them and hounded them with FOIA requests until some quit in disgust. That didn't stop them from proving that the oil is still there and messing up the ecosystem. Exxon suborned scientists to find that global warming didn't exist for fifteen or twenty years until the overwhelming evidence and a change at the top (Raymond retired unwillingly), enabled them to slowly alter their position. The fact that the oil is at present almost always found in places that are violent makes Exxon's job more difficult. Underdeveloped societies in which oil is discovered become corrupt and warped, the general population usually loses ground while a ruling group overindulges in aircraft, jewelry and weapons. Such a society (for example, Equatorial Guinea) becomes a target for overthrow from within and without. In Indonesia, Africa and Nigeria, Exxon is forced to work with emerging regimes of various degrees of bloodthirstiness, and to expose workers to threats of violence. Sometimes, the guards hired to protect the Exxon property and operations indulge in human rights violations commensurate with that particular country's tolerance for torture and death. Bodies were buried all over the Indonesian operation, for example, and ExxonMobil is being sued, though once again plaintiffs are dying off waiting for justice. The book discusses the dealings in Venezuela, and ExxonMobile's recent reemphasis on Canadian and American sources of oil sands and natural gas trapped in shale. Despite the need to work with tinpot despots to make money, Exxon doesn't like to depend on the US government in negotiations, unless they have to. Then a well-placed word to the right person, often Dick Cheney, achieves the goal. They continue to buy Republican Congressmen, but are now also stumbling around trying to find some Democratic friends. The new CEO is efforting to bring ExxonMobil some positive publicity while trying simultaneously to guide US policy. They oppose cap and trade, for example, preferring a known carbon tax. They are beginning to understand a bit about public relations and how to talk to people nicely and not lecture them. While I don't think I would call this book an apology for the oil business, I would say that Coll definitely underplays the corruption and immorality of ExxonMobil's laser focus on profits and lack of consideration for others who share the planet. This is an ugly group of people who think they are on God's side but who actually appear to worship Capitalism as practiced in the Gilded Age. I hope we can break them up again soon.
December 19, 2024
Really enjoyed reading this!
Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power gives a detailed analysis of how the big oil companies had outsized influence on US and foreign governments and their foreign policy over the years.
It made me think about how the big oil companies might be old school now but the big Tech companies have taken over this influence with the big tech company CEOs making trips to Mar-o-Lago to see Trump before his inauguration.
Will discuss this on the next episode of the Habano Del Podcasto Podcast with Adham Moshasha and Adham Ghassan Mayassi and our wonderful producer Maleeha Murad!
Habano Del Podcasto is available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power gives a detailed analysis of how the big oil companies had outsized influence on US and foreign governments and their foreign policy over the years.
It made me think about how the big oil companies might be old school now but the big Tech companies have taken over this influence with the big tech company CEOs making trips to Mar-o-Lago to see Trump before his inauguration.
Will discuss this on the next episode of the Habano Del Podcasto Podcast with Adham Moshasha and Adham Ghassan Mayassi and our wonderful producer Maleeha Murad!
Habano Del Podcasto is available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
September 16, 2016
Well-written episodes of ExxonMobil's rigid culture and how it shapes major world events from 1989 to 2010. Coll has great detail and pacing within each episode to keep you turning pages, though the sheer number of chapters (28) is daunting. I liked how Coll weaves in questions about the nature of democracy and the responsibility of global corporations to the public good without sounding preachy or prescriptive. I'm an energy nerd so probably enjoyed this book more than the next person, but after reading this A) I can never work for ExxonMobil, and B) I am definitely interested in reading more from Steve Coll
January 10, 2015
When one sees the book title, one may suppose its about Exxon Mobil and its might and weight.
Instead the book reads like a thriller revolving around geopolitics, managers' egos and the might of contacts and cash flows.
Very little about the business, and a lot like a novel with conspiracies and characters...
Read only the first 100 pages and quit.
Note: This book is not for the business/ investment reader.
Instead the book reads like a thriller revolving around geopolitics, managers' egos and the might of contacts and cash flows.
Very little about the business, and a lot like a novel with conspiracies and characters...
Read only the first 100 pages and quit.
Note: This book is not for the business/ investment reader.
August 16, 2018
Full review and highlights at https://books.max-nova.com/private-empire
"Private Empire" is a surprising book about the history of ExxonMobil, America's largest company. Not only did Exxon come off as less evil than commonly portrayed, but the oil company seemed to be significantly less powerful than I had anticipated. Two-time Pulitzer-Prize winner Steve Coll wants to convince us that America didn't invade Iraq to steal its oil and that ExxonMobil played no role in the decision to invade. And I've gotta say, I'm pretty convinced. Coll clearly delineates the boundaries between ExxonMobil's profit-focused, engineering-driven enterprise and the messy, internally-conflicted, and constantly shifting world of official US geopolitics. Exxon's stated policy was that "ExxonMobil did not want anything from the American government, but it did not want the government to do anything to the company, either." I was struck by how often Exxon seemed to get boxed out by Russian and Chinese state-owned enterprises because they had much stronger domestic government support than Exxon. If Exxon were actually running some shadowy power cabal to use the US military to secure access to oil, how could something like this possibly be true:
My overall impression of Exxon is that it is an enormous company that manages a hugely complex global operation and uses lots of solid, boring physical and process engineering to ensure that gargantuan profits continue to flow with relatively few major screw-ups. I was particularly intrigued by Coll's first chapter about the engineering-driven culture of Exxon and their very non-postmodern belief in the "One Right Answer":
The one thing that still doesn't sit quite right with me though is Exxon's domestic political influence. Coll claims it's there, and it seems like it should be. But the numbers cited just don't add up. Their Washington, DC lobbying office didn't seem particularly huge and their PAC only "distributed about $700,000 during each two-year election cycle." That's peanuts! For comparison, Exxon straight up gave $100 MILLION to Stanford for its Global Climate and Energy Project... and that's not even that much when you think about the scale of Exxon's operations (that's about 18 hours of profit). So either buying US politicians is super cheap or there's something missing here.
"Private Empire" is a surprising book about the history of ExxonMobil, America's largest company. Not only did Exxon come off as less evil than commonly portrayed, but the oil company seemed to be significantly less powerful than I had anticipated. Two-time Pulitzer-Prize winner Steve Coll wants to convince us that America didn't invade Iraq to steal its oil and that ExxonMobil played no role in the decision to invade. And I've gotta say, I'm pretty convinced. Coll clearly delineates the boundaries between ExxonMobil's profit-focused, engineering-driven enterprise and the messy, internally-conflicted, and constantly shifting world of official US geopolitics. Exxon's stated policy was that "ExxonMobil did not want anything from the American government, but it did not want the government to do anything to the company, either." I was struck by how often Exxon seemed to get boxed out by Russian and Chinese state-owned enterprises because they had much stronger domestic government support than Exxon. If Exxon were actually running some shadowy power cabal to use the US military to secure access to oil, how could something like this possibly be true:
The U.A.E. depended upon American military protection for its very existence, yet American oil companies had managed to secure only 13 percent of the foreign participation available to international majors; European and British firms had 60 percent.But at the same time, Coll claims that, "There were many favors, executive orders, lobbying meetings, and laws ExxonMobil sought and obtained from the American government." I highlighted this 700 page book pretty exhaustively and I didn't really see evidence of this. The most hardball lobbying I saw was about preventing a precautionary nationwide phthalate ban pushed by alarmist environmental groups (see Deutsch's "The Beginning of Infinity" for a strong indictment of the precautionary principle)... and Exxon ultimately had to compromise pretty hard on that. And Coll documents plenty of other cases where Exxon paid out billions in government-mandated fines.
My overall impression of Exxon is that it is an enormous company that manages a hugely complex global operation and uses lots of solid, boring physical and process engineering to ensure that gargantuan profits continue to flow with relatively few major screw-ups. I was particularly intrigued by Coll's first chapter about the engineering-driven culture of Exxon and their very non-postmodern belief in the "One Right Answer":
“They’re all engineers, mostly white males, mostly from the South... They shared a belief in the One Right Answer, that you would solve the equation and that would be the answer, and it didn’t need to be debated.”Is there a connection between lines like "ExxonMobil earned a net profit of $36.1 billion, more money than any corporation had ever made in history" and the relentless, boring, engineering perspective described above...? The scale of the operation doesn't hurt either. As Rex Tillerson said:
Everything we do, the numbers are very large. I saw someone characterize our profits the other day in terms of $1,400 in profit per second. Well, they also need to understand we paid $4,000 a second in taxes, and we spent $15,000 a second in cost. We spend $1 billion a day just running our business.But this scale is a double-edged sword. Coll shows us how Exxon's recent history has been increasingly characterized by anxiety about replenishing its reserves. This has forced Exxon into large mergers (Mobil for overseas oil and XTO for domestic shale) and into increasingly dicey projects in developing countries. From Venezuela and Nigeria to Indonesia and Equatorial Guinea, Coll takes us on a global tour of Exxon's quest to acquire and exploit oil reserves. It's messy. Coll talks about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and how Exxon walks a fine line to gain access to oil while respecting international norms. The notorious French Elf Affair (also mentioned in "The Looting Machine") comes up, as does a lot of the offshore money dynamics detailed in "Treasure Islands". Overall, Exxon comes off looking pretty clean - at least relative to other major international oil companies.
The one thing that still doesn't sit quite right with me though is Exxon's domestic political influence. Coll claims it's there, and it seems like it should be. But the numbers cited just don't add up. Their Washington, DC lobbying office didn't seem particularly huge and their PAC only "distributed about $700,000 during each two-year election cycle." That's peanuts! For comparison, Exxon straight up gave $100 MILLION to Stanford for its Global Climate and Energy Project... and that's not even that much when you think about the scale of Exxon's operations (that's about 18 hours of profit). So either buying US politicians is super cheap or there's something missing here.
February 17, 2025
This book was dense asf my GOSH but it was a really really good end to end history of the last two CEOs and how their decisions influenced the ExxonMobil of today.
February 28, 2018
Coll's "Private Empire" is one of the masterpieces of modern corporate reporting: its breadth and objectivity separate this work from the usual fare in histories of corporations and business tie-ups. What makes Coll's book such a treat to read is its dizzying journey through international politics, innovations in geology, finance & capitalism, politics, and, perhaps most presciently, biography. Though this is the story of ExxonMobil and its many, many ventures across the globe, its is, at heart, a study of how two men, lee Raymond and Rex Tillerson, steered the massive corporation through decades of stormy seas and into safe bays of extraordinarily high profits.
Coll's work is perhaps the best introduction to the character of Rex Tillerson, now serving as President Trump's Secretary of State. Imbued with a folksy dedication to Boy Scout values and attuned to political tendencies in the area of climate change science more than his predecessor, Tillerson emerges as a shrewd, if flawed, protector of the ExxonMobil brand.
More than anything else, this book dispels the notion of ExxonMobil as an arm of American imperial ambitions. From Equatorial Guinea to Canada to Iraq, ExxonMobil often advantageously uses American political, economic, and imperial might to suit its own interests; however, Coll's thorough investigatory reporting shows how ExxonMobil hewed incessantly to a course of action that would benefit its shareholders and burgeon its profits, even if particular projects or relationships would be detrimental to the standing of the United States.
Coll's work is simply not to be missed. Even with the rise of renewable energy and improved technology, as Coll points out, we will be left with fossil fuels, and their devastating impact on the environment, for much of this century.
This book shows, more than anything else, the extraordinary reach of multi-national corporations in the 21st Century, for better and for worse.
Coll's work is perhaps the best introduction to the character of Rex Tillerson, now serving as President Trump's Secretary of State. Imbued with a folksy dedication to Boy Scout values and attuned to political tendencies in the area of climate change science more than his predecessor, Tillerson emerges as a shrewd, if flawed, protector of the ExxonMobil brand.
More than anything else, this book dispels the notion of ExxonMobil as an arm of American imperial ambitions. From Equatorial Guinea to Canada to Iraq, ExxonMobil often advantageously uses American political, economic, and imperial might to suit its own interests; however, Coll's thorough investigatory reporting shows how ExxonMobil hewed incessantly to a course of action that would benefit its shareholders and burgeon its profits, even if particular projects or relationships would be detrimental to the standing of the United States.
Coll's work is simply not to be missed. Even with the rise of renewable energy and improved technology, as Coll points out, we will be left with fossil fuels, and their devastating impact on the environment, for much of this century.
This book shows, more than anything else, the extraordinary reach of multi-national corporations in the 21st Century, for better and for worse.
February 21, 2022
Is it a dense book? Sort of. But it was hardly boring. It’s interesting to be taken to far flung jurisdictions to see how an almighty oil giant conduct its business, with and without political influence and support. There are various cross currents that the author have touched upon, for which readers could explore further on their own - lobbying, human rights in developing countries with resources, geopolitical tension, philosophical debate of what oil means to different national states (strategic asset which you could leverage as a threat or simply an economic input which should be left to forces of free markets).
It would be an interesting book to re-write or revisit given the current ESG revolution. I wonder to what magnitude strategies would have shifted in the past few years.
Overall, the effort put towards the writing is excellent and for anyone interested in learning about an oil giant with sprawling assets globally, this is a book you shouldn’t miss.
It would be an interesting book to re-write or revisit given the current ESG revolution. I wonder to what magnitude strategies would have shifted in the past few years.
Overall, the effort put towards the writing is excellent and for anyone interested in learning about an oil giant with sprawling assets globally, this is a book you shouldn’t miss.
July 4, 2012
“Private Empire, ExxonMobil and American Power” by Steve Coll, published by The Penguin Press.
Category – Business
How big is ExxonMobile and how much influence does it have on politics both National and International???? Steve Coll investigates not only these questions but many more and also looks into the dealings of other oil and gas companies. Coll is very neutral in his writing showing both sides of an issue and the possible outcomes of the decisions made by the companies. It is hard to visualize that ExxonMobile has probably more influence than the United States throughout the world. ExxonMobile rarely, if ever, needs assistance from the United States in matters of business and politics. It is an entity in itself, answering to no one, except maybe its stockholders. The book tells of how ExxonMobile, and other companies, compete and sign contracts with other countries for their oil deposits. Most of these countries are very poor and lack the basic needs of housing, education, clean water, and healthcare. The companies pay these governments for the oil but these countries are controlled by people who steal these funds for themselves and their people are damned. In defense of the oil companies, the companies insist that they make payments to the government and it is out of their control what happens to the money. The book takes a hard look at the past and present governments involved and the players that formulate policy in both the business and government sectors.
The largest part of the book will be for those interested in the inner workings of oil companies, but there are some real eye opening sections concerning oil spills, graft, and climate control.
Category – Business
How big is ExxonMobile and how much influence does it have on politics both National and International???? Steve Coll investigates not only these questions but many more and also looks into the dealings of other oil and gas companies. Coll is very neutral in his writing showing both sides of an issue and the possible outcomes of the decisions made by the companies. It is hard to visualize that ExxonMobile has probably more influence than the United States throughout the world. ExxonMobile rarely, if ever, needs assistance from the United States in matters of business and politics. It is an entity in itself, answering to no one, except maybe its stockholders. The book tells of how ExxonMobile, and other companies, compete and sign contracts with other countries for their oil deposits. Most of these countries are very poor and lack the basic needs of housing, education, clean water, and healthcare. The companies pay these governments for the oil but these countries are controlled by people who steal these funds for themselves and their people are damned. In defense of the oil companies, the companies insist that they make payments to the government and it is out of their control what happens to the money. The book takes a hard look at the past and present governments involved and the players that formulate policy in both the business and government sectors.
The largest part of the book will be for those interested in the inner workings of oil companies, but there are some real eye opening sections concerning oil spills, graft, and climate control.
May 3, 2012
This was a door stopper of a book. I haven't had a real hefty book for a bit and it was a real delight to sit and hold a real solid book again. And what a book it was. Starting with the the Exxon Valdez spill and book-ending with the Deepwater Horizon disaster Private Empire details the arrogance that is ExxonMobil.
Mr. Coll's writing style is easy even when explaining oil extraction methods or the geopolitics of oil and natural gas rights. It reads almost like a suspense novel except that it's all true. And that is what makes it so scary. I found myself turning page after page reeling at my naivete. I think I want to go back to being uninformed. It's a happier state of mind.
Mr. Coll's research for the book was quite extensive and the book is heavily footnoted. He conducted over 400 interviews with people great and small and he weaves what they shared together with facts gathered from all over the world to take the reader on a ride from oil fields to the offices of political power in this country and beyond. It was utterly fascinating to get a peak inside the Borg like culture of Exxon. Tow the company line or find another job.
I have not enjoyed a non fiction book this much in a long, long time. I just wish I wasn't so surprised at what I learned.
Mr. Coll's writing style is easy even when explaining oil extraction methods or the geopolitics of oil and natural gas rights. It reads almost like a suspense novel except that it's all true. And that is what makes it so scary. I found myself turning page after page reeling at my naivete. I think I want to go back to being uninformed. It's a happier state of mind.
Mr. Coll's research for the book was quite extensive and the book is heavily footnoted. He conducted over 400 interviews with people great and small and he weaves what they shared together with facts gathered from all over the world to take the reader on a ride from oil fields to the offices of political power in this country and beyond. It was utterly fascinating to get a peak inside the Borg like culture of Exxon. Tow the company line or find another job.
I have not enjoyed a non fiction book this much in a long, long time. I just wish I wasn't so surprised at what I learned.
January 5, 2016
The sum was less than the parts.
A lot of great information about the culture of Exxon, it's two most prominent CEO's Raymond and Tillerson, and a lot of great tidbits about how the oil industry worked.
I actually finished the book with a higher (but still negative) opinion of Exxon than when I started. Exxon seems to be the company version of a crotchety old grandpa: he says what he thinks, does a few things that are not at all appropriate in today's society, but wins every family game of scrabble and rubs it in afterwards.
Unfortunately, it seems to have been padded with a lot of information about the State Department and political environments of the countries Exxon operated in. I can understand the allure of including such content, cables tend to be well sourced and credible, but parts of the book just felt like reading cable traffic.
I also longed for a longer-term narrative that traced in detail the links from Standard Oil to Exxon, and a little more than the top lieutenants about how day to day life in the oil business actually works. It seems the only non-management characters to get any profiling were those involved in some of the largest accidents.
A lot of great information about the culture of Exxon, it's two most prominent CEO's Raymond and Tillerson, and a lot of great tidbits about how the oil industry worked.
I actually finished the book with a higher (but still negative) opinion of Exxon than when I started. Exxon seems to be the company version of a crotchety old grandpa: he says what he thinks, does a few things that are not at all appropriate in today's society, but wins every family game of scrabble and rubs it in afterwards.
Unfortunately, it seems to have been padded with a lot of information about the State Department and political environments of the countries Exxon operated in. I can understand the allure of including such content, cables tend to be well sourced and credible, but parts of the book just felt like reading cable traffic.
I also longed for a longer-term narrative that traced in detail the links from Standard Oil to Exxon, and a little more than the top lieutenants about how day to day life in the oil business actually works. It seems the only non-management characters to get any profiling were those involved in some of the largest accidents.
July 4, 2016
I finished this whole book, and was glad that someone looked into the behemoth that is Exxon-Mobile. I think of this book when people talk about Fracking, because it explains that The company needed to replace oil reserves when oil is sold & that wasnt happening. By using Natural gas, they could claim the reserves were on the rise. Another thing is they go into the illicit relationship with the CEO and Dick Cheney, how wars just happen to start where Exxon needs to have military support. it also brought up the fact that Exxon thinks it is an International company, not an American one, yet they expect to be bailed out by the American military.
The picture painted of the hiring of scientists to deny global warming, how the poor people in countries that have Exxon come in and extract oil do not get any financial benefit, how civil war is almost assured if Exxon comes into a country, it was all very eye opening. I think every American needs to read this, to realize what happens at a world level for the ordinary American to fill their gas tank with inexpensive oil.
The picture painted of the hiring of scientists to deny global warming, how the poor people in countries that have Exxon come in and extract oil do not get any financial benefit, how civil war is almost assured if Exxon comes into a country, it was all very eye opening. I think every American needs to read this, to realize what happens at a world level for the ordinary American to fill their gas tank with inexpensive oil.
June 22, 2017
If someone is interested in ExxonMobil's history and magnitude this book is definitely your best option. I was totally shocked by this 'Big Oil' behemoth. It's size, financial and engineering prowess and its involvement in places like Chad, Indonesia, Equatorial Guinea, etc, which is just impressive and at the same time scary.
Moreover it is very interesting how 'Exxon's way' has even reached their public sector lobbying (obviously) and have accomplished very good results for them and the industry. However the big problem this company faces (besides booking more oil reserves) is how they attend to climate change & global warming. It is unfortunate how they historically managed this problem...
Finally I would like to highlight the alliance they currently have with Russia and all the geopolitics issues this will certainly bring. There should be more work on Tillerson and Putin relationship now that both of them hold public offices of such importance.
I loved this book, Steve Coll definitely made a great work and totally deserves the 4 stars.
Moreover it is very interesting how 'Exxon's way' has even reached their public sector lobbying (obviously) and have accomplished very good results for them and the industry. However the big problem this company faces (besides booking more oil reserves) is how they attend to climate change & global warming. It is unfortunate how they historically managed this problem...
Finally I would like to highlight the alliance they currently have with Russia and all the geopolitics issues this will certainly bring. There should be more work on Tillerson and Putin relationship now that both of them hold public offices of such importance.
I loved this book, Steve Coll definitely made a great work and totally deserves the 4 stars.
February 26, 2017
Reserve replacement, sanctity of contracts, safety first!
Excellent book to understand the mindset and world view of current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Learn why oil sanctions are totally ineffective as economic policy, and how Exxon views the world as a collection of green, yellow and red zones. Mostly covers the world Lee Raymond, Tillerson's predecessor at Exxon created, and Tillerson's actions during the Bush years. Deals with Putin and Russia are essentially epilogue in the last 10 pages.
Fantastically interesting read if energy geopolitics are your thing.
Excellent book to understand the mindset and world view of current Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Learn why oil sanctions are totally ineffective as economic policy, and how Exxon views the world as a collection of green, yellow and red zones. Mostly covers the world Lee Raymond, Tillerson's predecessor at Exxon created, and Tillerson's actions during the Bush years. Deals with Putin and Russia are essentially epilogue in the last 10 pages.
Fantastically interesting read if energy geopolitics are your thing.
November 30, 2012
Coll is a superb writer, but this doesn't really rise above just telling you a ton about Exxon. Not sure why I was expecting more. The interesting bits for 90% of potential readers could be summed up in a mid-length New Yorker piece. The thought of actually reading this as opposed to audiobooking it gives me chills.
May 13, 2025
I learned so much from this book. The plot, in brief: ExxonMobil is a private company that is obligated to buoy its stock price for shareholders. To do this, it must demonstrate every quarter that it is finding as much new oil and gas as it is producing, such that its "proved reserves" -- the volume of oil and gas it "owns," or that exist beneath the acres of land or sea it has laid claim to -- never shrink. If those were to shrink, the company would, in essence, be shrinking, which would not be acceptable. But as ExxonMobil and other private oil companies deplete their reserves of oil and gas in North America, western Europe and Australia, they find themselves pressured to venture out into unstable, transitional and/or autocratic regimes to replace those depleted reserves. This is how ExxonMobil finds itself producing oil and gas in Indonesia during a civil war. Or producing oil and gas in landlocked Chad, one of the poorest countries on earth, where ExxonMobil must compensate the country's brutal autocratic leader in exchange for permission to drill on his land. How that money makes its way into the hands of the Chadian people is fraught, mostly doesn't happen, and isn't really ExxonMobil's concern. Sometimes ExxonMobil's priorities align with those of the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama, over the course of which the book takes place, and the company is happy to ask for the help of the US government when needed. But sometimes their priorities don't align, and ExxonMobil is quick to remind its own host country's leaders and the rest of the world that its responsibilities are to its shareholders -- it is not an "American company," in that sense, whatever that means.
Critique: as my coworker put it, "There is detail, and then there is Steve Coll." Many reviews discuss "reader fatigue," and that grievance is legitimate.
Critique: as my coworker put it, "There is detail, and then there is Steve Coll." Many reviews discuss "reader fatigue," and that grievance is legitimate.
March 31, 2017
Although meticulously researched and sourced, this book feels extremely disjointed at several points because Coll has the unfortunate tendency to break up the chronological narrative with dreary details of endless Washington meetings and irrelevant 'human interest' stories.
If you follow the news closely some of the stories and facts in this book will be familiar to you. If not, you will definitely flinch at the astronomical profits Exxon generated (and continues to generate). The gargantuan figures being thrown around will certainly make you dizzy. That being said there is definitely a lot of revealing details here, such as the fact that Exxon maintains private security forces in parts of Africa to make sure its oil flows smoothly or the fact that its presence in countries like Equatorial Guinea and Chad dwarfs the presence of the US government.
Coll's central thesis is that Exxon is so large and wields so much power and influence in our oil hungry world that it essentially operates as a parallel government, one whose interests aren't always aligned with those of its parent country. I am no expert in oil economics but it seems that the idolization of Lee Raymond, Exxon's CEO in the 90s and 2000s seems misplaced - the economic climate was so good and the times were so plush that a trained monkey could have called the shots and still generated enormous profits. I liked the detailed profile of Rex Tillerson - the man who runs America's diplomacy as Secretary of State currently - that emerges in the book.
I listened to the audiobook version and cringed every time the narrator tried doing different accents (Putin, Obama, your generic Texas oilman and so on). Another complaint is the book is several hundred pages too long. An able editor would have trimmed the fat to make it more streamlined.
If you follow the news closely some of the stories and facts in this book will be familiar to you. If not, you will definitely flinch at the astronomical profits Exxon generated (and continues to generate). The gargantuan figures being thrown around will certainly make you dizzy. That being said there is definitely a lot of revealing details here, such as the fact that Exxon maintains private security forces in parts of Africa to make sure its oil flows smoothly or the fact that its presence in countries like Equatorial Guinea and Chad dwarfs the presence of the US government.
Coll's central thesis is that Exxon is so large and wields so much power and influence in our oil hungry world that it essentially operates as a parallel government, one whose interests aren't always aligned with those of its parent country. I am no expert in oil economics but it seems that the idolization of Lee Raymond, Exxon's CEO in the 90s and 2000s seems misplaced - the economic climate was so good and the times were so plush that a trained monkey could have called the shots and still generated enormous profits. I liked the detailed profile of Rex Tillerson - the man who runs America's diplomacy as Secretary of State currently - that emerges in the book.
I listened to the audiobook version and cringed every time the narrator tried doing different accents (Putin, Obama, your generic Texas oilman and so on). Another complaint is the book is several hundred pages too long. An able editor would have trimmed the fat to make it more streamlined.
May 14, 2020
Intrigued by the earlier book “Blowout”, was curios to read about the oil industry and know more about it’s biggest player , Exxon Mobil, in depth... and this book did not disappoint.
This book is a detailed story of Exxon Mobil of the last 4 decades, in a sense a more recent story of the Growth of Exxon in the post Valdez oil spill, led by Raymond Lee followed by Rex Tillerson.
The rise of Exxon and as a result the role of America and its geo politics in the quest for achieving it’s energy independence , emerges as a fascinating story which explores the politics and energy dynamics of US and Big Oil in countries like Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Nigeria, Indonesia, Alaska and Russia.
The book is not just the story of Exxon, but a grand tour of Global GeoPolitics and the murky lines of Big Oil and Washington, and the range of colorful characters that make up a fascinating yet complex industry. Albeit long, this well researched book is a highly recommended read.
This book is a detailed story of Exxon Mobil of the last 4 decades, in a sense a more recent story of the Growth of Exxon in the post Valdez oil spill, led by Raymond Lee followed by Rex Tillerson.
The rise of Exxon and as a result the role of America and its geo politics in the quest for achieving it’s energy independence , emerges as a fascinating story which explores the politics and energy dynamics of US and Big Oil in countries like Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Nigeria, Indonesia, Alaska and Russia.
The book is not just the story of Exxon, but a grand tour of Global GeoPolitics and the murky lines of Big Oil and Washington, and the range of colorful characters that make up a fascinating yet complex industry. Albeit long, this well researched book is a highly recommended read.
March 31, 2020
I have to be mentally and physically ready before starting one of Steve's books as I'm not used to reading 700-800 pages at a time. But nevertheless, I keep returning every time because I thoroughly enjoy the deep dive he takes into each facet of the topic and every possible perspective to be considered.
In this book, he looks into ExxonMobil and it's journey towards becoming the behemoth it is today. It unfolds in the landscape of the broader oil game in which ExxonMobil plays a part. I was looking forward to read about the dynamics of the relationship between the company and the US government and how oil bearing governments choose between the private and nationalised oil corporations when making deals. I wasn't disappointed.
But I'd like to mention that it's a lot of dense info about what, after all is said and done, is just a private company (but a very important one)
In this book, he looks into ExxonMobil and it's journey towards becoming the behemoth it is today. It unfolds in the landscape of the broader oil game in which ExxonMobil plays a part. I was looking forward to read about the dynamics of the relationship between the company and the US government and how oil bearing governments choose between the private and nationalised oil corporations when making deals. I wasn't disappointed.
But I'd like to mention that it's a lot of dense info about what, after all is said and done, is just a private company (but a very important one)
September 22, 2017
A truly massive work by Steve Coll. It follows the history of development of Exxon and then ExxonMobil from the ExxonValdez spill in 1989 to 2011, showcasing the culture, organization, and of course, people behind Exxon's hard-earned place as the world's biggest privately owned oil and gas company.
It's a great read for whoever wants to see a different, yet business-oriented perspective towards the oil industry, oil lobbying, and the policies related to natural resources not only in the U.S., but in the world as a whole.
It's a great read for whoever wants to see a different, yet business-oriented perspective towards the oil industry, oil lobbying, and the policies related to natural resources not only in the U.S., but in the world as a whole.
January 30, 2018
This is excellent writing from Pulitzer-winning author, Steve Coll. He managed to maintain a good balance between presenting facts accurately and telling an intriguing story. The book kicks off with Exxon Valdez's oil spill of 1989 and chronicles the reign of two consecutive ExxonMobil CEOs, Lee Raymond (1993-2005) and Rex Tillerson (2006-). When it comes to charisma, imagination and inspiration, these ExxonMobil CEOs do not play in the same league with the likes of Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk. One may also contend that the oil and gas industry, regardless of its indisputable importance to global economy, is less sexy than ventures by Amazon, Apple or Tesla. The fact that the book reads despite all this as interestingly as the biography of the above mentioned prominent business leaders does praise Coll's craft.
What makes the oil and gas industry unique though is the currently irreplaceable role fossil fuels play in economic development and modern lifestyle. The book does not intend to provide a fully-fledged, all-encompassing summary of global energy policies, developments and trends. For that there is The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. Instead, Coll places the emphasis on events and projects in the oil and gas industry as perceived through the glasses of ExxonMobil, the biggest US mammoth in the Big Oil herd. The book is rich in interesting stories, insights, eye opening revelations, I highlight below just a few I especially enjoyed:
- The delicate dance and interaction between the US government (including national security and intelligence agencies) and ExxonMobil. The constant struggle of the two parties to find the best way of harmonizing US diplomacy's priorities (i.e. fostering human rights, democracy and democratic institutions) with preservation of US economic interests (i.e. securing access to oil reserves) in authoritarian countries.
- ExxonMobil managed to create and then stabilize for itself a solidly bad reputation in environmental matters. They tried to slow down and undermine the anyway time-consuming process of arriving at a consensus about global warming. It was interesting to see the reluctant and gradual shift in the company's position, always lagging behind the evolvement of general scientific consensus. After a starting position manifested in full denial of global warming, they moved on to challenge the existence of a causal link between human activity and global warming. When that line of defense has also fallen, they began to dispute the economic rationality of taking actions against global warming, by emphasizing the possibly huge costs and severe economic implications.
- Some of the maneuvers ExxonMobil relied on are rather questionable or unethical. For instance, the company chose the strategy to bombard scientists, who studied the biological consequences of oil remnants from the Exxon Valdez spill, with continuous information requests. That is fully legal but also a nasty way of obstructing scientists' work who obviously did not have the headcount and capacity to cope with those information requests continuously flowing from ExxonMobil's lawyers. Yet, my favorite is when a small nonprofit group called Public Interest Watch raised questions with the IRS about whether Greenpeace was compliant with tax laws governing contributions received. When Greenpeace passed the audit and, in return, opened its own investigation on Public Interest Watch it found that a single donor was responsible for $120k of Public Interest Watch’s $124k annual revenues: surprise, it was ExxonMobil
- Even if ExxonMobil does not seem a creative and liberal place of work in the style of Google, there is no doubt about their excellent engineering, technical and financial prowess. No wonder they have been consistently beating many of their industry rivals over the past decades.
- Finally, as a bonus, one can learn from the book the perfect recipe of how to become a successful authoritarian leader in an oil-rich tinpot dictatorship. First and foremost, you must instruct a significant part of your military and police forces to protect the neighborhood of US oil / gas production facilities and ensure their uninterrupted operations. Second, if point one is successfully accomplished, then you can rely on support from intelligence agencies and military contractors of the US (or of Israel, if direct US assistance would be too visible and problematic). Third, you can continue to crack down on your enemies, let them be representatives of other tribes, clans, ethnicity, political opposition. You can imprison them, torture them, kill them, business as usual. Unsurprisingly, you may have some difficulties in establishing publicized meetings with high-ranking US officials but other than that there is no big harm. Finally, even if you are being pushed by the US government, the World Bank or others to spend oil money on your own people and your country’s development, you will certainly find a way to direct the majority of oil money to yourself, your family members, your friends, your supporters, the family members of your friends and supporters, etc. So, relax, be confident and never forget, oil makes the world turn ! (my rather cynical summary of the really sad truth)
What makes the oil and gas industry unique though is the currently irreplaceable role fossil fuels play in economic development and modern lifestyle. The book does not intend to provide a fully-fledged, all-encompassing summary of global energy policies, developments and trends. For that there is The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. Instead, Coll places the emphasis on events and projects in the oil and gas industry as perceived through the glasses of ExxonMobil, the biggest US mammoth in the Big Oil herd. The book is rich in interesting stories, insights, eye opening revelations, I highlight below just a few I especially enjoyed:
- The delicate dance and interaction between the US government (including national security and intelligence agencies) and ExxonMobil. The constant struggle of the two parties to find the best way of harmonizing US diplomacy's priorities (i.e. fostering human rights, democracy and democratic institutions) with preservation of US economic interests (i.e. securing access to oil reserves) in authoritarian countries.
- ExxonMobil managed to create and then stabilize for itself a solidly bad reputation in environmental matters. They tried to slow down and undermine the anyway time-consuming process of arriving at a consensus about global warming. It was interesting to see the reluctant and gradual shift in the company's position, always lagging behind the evolvement of general scientific consensus. After a starting position manifested in full denial of global warming, they moved on to challenge the existence of a causal link between human activity and global warming. When that line of defense has also fallen, they began to dispute the economic rationality of taking actions against global warming, by emphasizing the possibly huge costs and severe economic implications.
- Some of the maneuvers ExxonMobil relied on are rather questionable or unethical. For instance, the company chose the strategy to bombard scientists, who studied the biological consequences of oil remnants from the Exxon Valdez spill, with continuous information requests. That is fully legal but also a nasty way of obstructing scientists' work who obviously did not have the headcount and capacity to cope with those information requests continuously flowing from ExxonMobil's lawyers. Yet, my favorite is when a small nonprofit group called Public Interest Watch raised questions with the IRS about whether Greenpeace was compliant with tax laws governing contributions received. When Greenpeace passed the audit and, in return, opened its own investigation on Public Interest Watch it found that a single donor was responsible for $120k of Public Interest Watch’s $124k annual revenues: surprise, it was ExxonMobil
- Even if ExxonMobil does not seem a creative and liberal place of work in the style of Google, there is no doubt about their excellent engineering, technical and financial prowess. No wonder they have been consistently beating many of their industry rivals over the past decades.
- Finally, as a bonus, one can learn from the book the perfect recipe of how to become a successful authoritarian leader in an oil-rich tinpot dictatorship. First and foremost, you must instruct a significant part of your military and police forces to protect the neighborhood of US oil / gas production facilities and ensure their uninterrupted operations. Second, if point one is successfully accomplished, then you can rely on support from intelligence agencies and military contractors of the US (or of Israel, if direct US assistance would be too visible and problematic). Third, you can continue to crack down on your enemies, let them be representatives of other tribes, clans, ethnicity, political opposition. You can imprison them, torture them, kill them, business as usual. Unsurprisingly, you may have some difficulties in establishing publicized meetings with high-ranking US officials but other than that there is no big harm. Finally, even if you are being pushed by the US government, the World Bank or others to spend oil money on your own people and your country’s development, you will certainly find a way to direct the majority of oil money to yourself, your family members, your friends, your supporters, the family members of your friends and supporters, etc. So, relax, be confident and never forget, oil makes the world turn ! (my rather cynical summary of the really sad truth)
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