ExxonMobil traces its roots toVacuum Oil Company, founded in 1866. Vacuum Oil later was acquired byStandard Oil in 1879, divested from Standard in 1911 withits breakup, and merged by the Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony), later known asMobil, in 1931. After the 1911 breakup, Standard Oil continued to exist through its New Jersey subsidiary, sometimes shortened to Jersey Standard, and retained the Standard Oil name in much of the eastern United States. Jersey Standard grew by acquiringHumble Oil in the 1930s and became the dominant oil company on the world stage. The company's lack of ownership over the Standard Oil name across the United States, however, prompted a name change to unify all of its brands under one name, choosing to name itself Exxon in 1972 over continuing to use the three distinct brands ofEsso,Enco, andHumble Oil.[16][17]
In 1998, the two companies agreed to merge and form ExxonMobil, with the deal closing on November 30, 1999. The two companies cited lower oil prices and a better ability to compete with other state-owned oil companies outside of the United States likePemex andAramco. With the deal, the two companies practically merged, with the new company's name containing both of the trade names of its immediate predecessors. However, the structure of the merger provided that Exxon was the surviving company and bought Mobil, rather than a new company being created.[17][18][19][20] Following the merger, Exxon's NYSE ticker symbol was changed from "XON"[21] to "XOM".
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government-owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.[22]
ExxonMobil in Guyana crude oil drills map image offshore regions, Guyana exports around 500,000 barrels per day in offshore regions.
ExxonMobil isvertically integrated into a number of global operating divisions. These divisions are grouped into three categories for reference purposes, though the company also has several standalone divisions, such as Coal & Minerals. It also owns hundreds of smaller subsidiaries such asXTO Energy andSeaRiver Maritime. ExxonMobil also has a majority ownership stake inImperial Oil.[23]
Upstream (oil exploration, extraction, shipping, and wholesale operations)
The upstream division makes up the majority of ExxonMobil's revenue, accounting for approximately 70% of it.[25] In 2021, ExxonMobil had about 30 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalents, as well as 38.1 billion cubic feet ofnatural gas.[26]In the United States, ExxonMobil's petroleum exploration and production activities are concentrated in thePermian Basin,Bakken Formation,Woodford Shale,Caney Shale, and theGulf of Mexico. In addition, ExxonMobil has several gas developments in the regions ofMarcellus Shale,Utica Shale,Haynesville Shale,Barnett Shale, andFayetteville Shale. All natural gas activities are conducted by its subsidiary, XTO Energy. As of December 31, 2014, ExxonMobil owned 14.6 million acres (59,000 km2) in the United States, of which 1.7 million acres (6,900 km2) were offshore, 1.5 million acres (6,100 km2) of which were in the Gulf of Mexico.[27] In California, it has a joint venture calledAera Energy LLC withShell Oil. In Canada, the company holds 5.4 million acres (22,000 km2), including 1 million acres (4,000 km2) offshore and 0.7 million acres (2,800 km2) of theKearl Oil Sands Project.[27]
In Argentina, ExxonMobil holds 0.9 million acres (3,600 km2) and 4.9 million acres (20,000 km2) in Germany. In the Netherlands ExxonMobil owns 1.5 million acres (6,100 km2), in Norway it owns 0.4 million acres (1,600 km2) offshore, and the United Kingdom 0.6 million acres (2,400 km2) offshore. In Africa, upstream operations are concentrated in Angola, where it owns 0.4 million acres (1,600 km2) offshore, Chad where it owns 46,000 acres (19,000 ha), Equatorial Guinea, where it owns 0.1 million acres (400 km2) offshore, and Nigeria, where it owns 0.8 million acres (3,200 km2) offshore.[27] In addition, ExxonMobil plans to start exploration activities off the coast of Liberia and the Ivory Coast.[28][29] In the past, ExxonMobil had exploration activities in Madagascar, however these operations were ended due to unsatisfactory results.[30]
In Asia, it holds 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) in Azerbaijan, 1.7 million acres (6,900 km2) in Indonesia, of which 1.3 million acres (5,300 km2) are offshore, 0.7 million acres (2,800 km2) in Iraq, 0.3 million acres (1,200 km2) in Kazakhstan, 0.2 million acres (810 km2) in Malaysia, 65,000 acres (26,000 ha) in Qatar, 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) in Yemen, 21,000 acres (8,500 ha) in Thailand, and 81,000 acres (33,000 ha) in the United Arab Emirates.[27]
ExxonMobil exited theWest Qurna 1 oilfield in January 2024, officially ending all energy sector operations in Iraq. The share is now owned byPetroChina andPertamina.[31][32]
In March 2024, ExxonMobil discovered oil at the Stabroek block off the coast ofGuyana using a drillship. By the end of 2027, it plans to have 6FPSOs at the block.[33] Oil was discovered off the coast of Angola in May 2024 in a well drilled from February to April in theKizomba B development area.[34]
Until the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, ExxonMobil held 85,000 acres (34,000 ha) in theSakhalin-I project through its subsidiaryExxon Neftegas. Together withRosneft, it has developed 63.6 million acres (257,000 km2) in Russia, including theEast-Prinovozemelsky field. After Russia's 2022 invasion began, though, ExxonMobil announced it was fully pulling out of both Russia and Sakhalin-I, and launched a lawsuit against Russia's federal government on August 30.[35]
In Australia, ExxonMobil held 1.7 million acres (6,900 km2), including 1.6 million acres (6,500 km2) offshore. It also operates the Longford Gas Conditioning Plant, and participates in the development ofGorgon LNG project.
ExxonMobil formed its Product Solutions division in 2022, combining its previously separate Downstream and Chemical divisions into a single company.[36]
On October 1, 2024, Nigeria approved the $1.28 billion sale of Exxon Mobil's onshore assets to Seplat Energy, more than two years after the deal was first agreed upon in February 2022[37]
ExxonMobil markets products around the world under the brands ofExxon, Mobil, and Esso. Mobil is ExxonMobil's primary retail gasoline brand in California,Florida,New York,New England,the Great Lakes, and theMidwest. Exxon is the primary brand in the rest of the United States, with the highest concentration of retail outlets located in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas (shared with Mobil), and in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. ExxonMobil has stations in 46 states, just behindShell USA and ahead ofPhillips 66, lacking a presence only inAlaska,Hawaii,Iowa, andKansas.[38]
Outside of the United States, Esso and Mobil are primarily used, with Esso operating in 14 countries and Mobil operating in 29 countries and regions.[39]
In Japan, ExxonMobil had a 22% stake in TonenGeneral Sekiyu K.K., a refining company that merged intoEneos in 2017.[40][41]
ExxonMobil's primary retail brands worldwide are Exxon,Esso,Mobil, with the former being used exclusively in the United States and the latter two being used in most other countries where ExxonMobil operates. Esso is the only one of its brands not used widely in the United States. Since 2008, Mobil is the only brand for the company lubricants. Since 2018, ExxonMobil has operated aloyalty program, ExxonMobil Rewards+, where customers earn rewards points when filling up at its stations in the United States and later the United Kingdom.[42][43][44]
Mobil 1, a brand of synthetic motor oil, is a major sponsor of multiple racing teams and as the official motor oil ofNASCAR since 2003.[47] ExxonMobil is currently in partnerships withOracle Red Bull Racing inFormula One and Kalitta Motorsports.[48][49][50]
ExxonMobil operates 21 refineries worldwide, and the company claims 80% of its refining capacity is integrated with chemical or lube basestocks. ExxonMobil's largest refinery overall is itsBeaumont Refinery and its second largest in the United States is itsBaytown Refinery, located inBaytown, Texas. Its second largest refinery overall is itsJurong Island facility inSingapore. ExxonMobil's global average refining capacity was 4.6 million barrels per day, with the United States producing a plurality of the company's refining capacity at about 1.77 million barrels per day. ExxonMobil's corporate website claims it refines almost 5 million barrels per day.[51][52][53][54]
ExxonMobil was one of few U.S. refiners to expand capacity by a significant margin following an industry downturn suffered during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[55] The company completed a 250,000 barrels per day expansion at itsBeaumont, Texas, refinery in early 2023.[56]
Officially formed with ExxonMobil's 2022 corporate restructuring, and currently led by formerGeneral Motors presidentDan Ammann, Low Carbon Solutions is the company's alternative energy division. The division says it will lower emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as heavy industry, commercial transportation, and power generation using a combination of lower-emission fuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage. Low Carbon Solutions conducts research on clean energy technologies, includingalgae biofuels,biodiesel made from agricultural waste, carbonatefuel cells, and refining crude oil into plastic by using amembrane andosmosis instead of heat.[57][58] The company speculated in April 2023 that pending good economic conditions, the low-carbon solutions business could eclipse the value of its oil and gas operations.[59]
As of 2023[update], the company was in the process of designing its inaugural large-scale plant dedicated to producing low-carbon hydrogen, situated within its refining and petrochemical complex inBaytown, Texas. This project is set to become the world's largest low-carbon hydrogen project.[60][61]
ExxonMobil publicly announced it would be investing $15 billion in what it deemed a "lower carbon future", and claims to be the world leader incarbon capture and storage (CCS). The company additionally plans that itsScope 1 and Scope 2 emissions will becarbon neutral by 2050. ExxonMobil additionally acquired biofuel company Biojet AS in 2022, and its Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil is moving ahead with plans to produce a renewable diesel biofuel.[62][63] In July 2023, Exxon agreed to acquireDenbury Resources for $4.9 billion to further its low-carbon efforts.[64] In July 2024, ExxonMobil andCF Industries signed a CCS agreement that will allow ExxonMobil to transport and permanently store 500,000 tonnes of CO2 per year starting in 2028.[65]
Exxon is working on low-carbon energy projects, focusing on basic research in five to ten key areas. This work spends a fraction of the $1 billion a year Exxon spends on research worldwide and the $8 billion it has spent since 2000 researching, developing and deploying low-carbon technologies Projects include: algae biofuels, biodiesel from agricultural waste,molten carbonate fuel cells,and new ways to manufacture plastic that produce less carbon dioxide.[66]
In November 2023 ExxonMobil started drilling for lithium in the US State ofArkansas. In June 2024, a preliminary agreement to supply lithium toSK for the manufacture oflithium-ion batteries that will powerelectric vehicles was signed.[67]
ExxonMobil's environmental recordhas faced much criticism for its stance[68] and impact on global warming.[69] In 2018, thePolitical Economy Research Institute ranks ExxonMobil tenth among American corporations emittingairborne pollutants,[70] thirteenth by emittinggreenhouse gases.[71] A 2017 report places ExxonMobil as the fifth largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions from 1988 to 2015.[72][73] As of 2005[update], ExxonMobil had committed less than 1% of their profits towards researching alternative energy,[74] which, according to theadvocacy organizationCeres, is less than other leading oil companies.[75][needs update] According to the 2021 Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI), ExxonMobil is ranked as the sixth most environmentally responsible company among 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle.[76] As of 2020, ExxonMobil has been responsible for more than 3,000 oil spills and leakages which resulted in a loss of more than one barrel of oil, with the most in a single year being 484 spills in 2011.[77] Additionally, since 1965, ExxonMobil has released more than 40 billion tons ofcarbon dioxide pollution.[78]
In 2023,Science journal published a paper reporting that the global warming projections and models created by ExxonMobil's own scientists between 1977 and 2003 had "accurately" projected and "skillfully" modeled global warming due to fossil fuel burning, and had reasonably estimated how much CO2 would lead to dangerous warming. The authors of the paper concluded: "Yet, whereas academic and government scientists worked to communicate what they knew to the public, ExxonMobil worked to deny it."[79][80]
Between the 1980s and 2014, ExxonMobil was a notable denier of climate change, though the company officially changed its position in 2014 to acknowledge the existence of climate change. ExxonMobil's prolonged response incited the creation of theExxon Knew movement, which aims to hold the company accountable for various climate-related incidents. ExxonMobil has used its own website to attackExxon Knew, claiming that it is a coordinated effort to defame the company.[81][82][83]
ExxonMobil's operations have been subject to numerous oil spills both before and after the 1999 merger. The most widely publicized oil spill was the 1989Valdez oil spill, where an Exxon tanker discharged approximately 11 million U.S. gallons (42,000 m3) of oil intoPrince William Sound,[87] oiling 1,300 miles (2,100 km) of the remote Alaskan coastline. The spill remains the second largest in American history, only trailingBP'sDeepwater Horizon spill in theGulf of Mexico.[88]
ExxonMobil was also responsible for various other oil spills across the world. Some of Exxon's largest and most notable oil spills in the United States include long-lasting oil leaks totaling into an estimated 30 million gallon spill into New York City'sNewtown Creek over the course of a century by Exxon and other Standard Oil predecessors,[89] a 2011 oil spill which leaked 1,500 barrels of oil into theYellowstone River (resulting in about $135 million in damages),[90] and a 2012 1,900 barrel (80,000 gallon) spill from the company'sBaton Rouge Refinery in the rivers ofPoint Coupee Parish, Louisiana.[91] ExxonMobil's actives in Louisiana in particular, especially itsBaton Rouge Refinery, have given the area the nickname ofCancer Alley. The company's activities, along with other operations and refineries in the area, have been the source of increased cancer infections, lower air quality, and as seen by some, potential environmental racism committed by the company.[92][93]
In May 2021, ExxonMobil topped the Plastic Waste Makers Index report published by the Minderoo Foundation of 20 petrochemical companies that manufactured 55 percent of thesingle-use plastic waste in the world in 2019 (which were part of a larger group of 100 petrochemical companies that manufactured 90 percent of the waste),[94][95] while in April 2022,California Attorney GeneralRob Bonta issued a subpoena to ExxonMobil for information related to the company's role in overstating the effectiveness ofplastic recycling in reducing plastic pollution as part of an industry campaign to promote plastic usage.[96][97][98] On September 23, 2024,California Attorney GeneralRob Bonta filed a lawsuit inSan Francisco County Superior Court against ExxonMobil on behalf of the state ofCalifornia, alleging that the company carried out a "decades-long campaign of deception" and misled the public on the merits of plastic recycling; in response ExxonMobil said that California has an ineffective recycling system that officials have known about for decades.[99]
Geopolitical influence and human rights violations
ExxonMobil has also been accused of human rights violations and abusing its geopolitical influence.[15] In the bookPrivate Empire bySteve Coll, ExxonMobil is described as extremely powerful "corporate state within the American state" in dealing with the countries in which it drills, going to the point as describing such countries' governments as "constrained".[100] The company's corporate ancestors are also blamed for the outbreak of the 1954Jebel Akhdar War, which was sparked by theIraq Petroleum Company's activities.[101][102]
Beginning in the late 1980s, ExxonMobil (through predecessor Mobil) hired military units of theIndonesian National Army to provide security for their gas extraction and liquefaction project inAceh, Indonesia, and these military units were accused of committing human rights violations, including sexual assault, battery and unlawful detention. ExxonMobil eventually pulled out from Indonesia completely in 2001, while denying any wrongdoing.[103] Exxon attempted to have the case dismissed nine times, dragging the lawsuit out for over 20 years. In July 2022, aUS District Court denied ExxonMobil's motions to dismiss the case, clearing the way for the lawsuit to go to trial, although no trial date was set. In 2023, ExxonMobile settled the case a week before trial.[104]
During a 2022 surge in profits among ExxonMobil and other large oil companies, partly due tothe war in Ukraine,[105][106] U.S. PresidentJoe Biden criticized ExxonMobil. In June 2022, amid record oil prices, he said that "Exxon made more money than God this year".[107] When the oil giant reported its second quarter earnings in 2022,CNN reported that Exxon made US$2,245.62 per second in profit across the 92-day long second quarter.[108]
In May 2024, a Pennsylvania jury found ExxonMobil liable for negligently failing to warn about the health risks ofbenzene, which is classified by theUS Environmental Protection Agency as a knowncarcinogen, and ordered the company to pay $725.5 million incompensatory damages to a former mechanic, Paul Gill, who claimed that his cancer was caused byexposure to benzene in ExxonMobil's petroleum products while working at a Mobil gas station between 1975 and 1980.[109][110]
According toFortune Global 500, ExxonMobil was the second largest company, second largestpublicly held corporation, and the largest oil company in the United States by 2017 revenue.[113] For the fiscal year 2020, ExxonMobil reported a loss of US$22.4 billion, with an annual revenue of US$181.5 billion, a decline of 31.5% over the previous fiscal cycle.[114]
The key trends of ExxonMobil are (as at the financial year ending December 31):[115]
As per Fortune 500 Global list, ExxonMobil has been ranked #7 company in the World.[116]
ExxonMobil's headquarters are located in theSpring, Texas area, a suburb of Houston. The ExxonMobil campus has a Spring post office address, and is adjacent to, but not in, the Springcensus-designated place.[130] Paul Takahashi of theHouston Chronicle described the headquarters as being in Spring.[131]
The headquarters was previously inIrving.[132] The company decided to consolidate its Houston operations into one new campus located in northernHarris County and vacate its offices on 800 Bell St. which it had occupied since 1963.[133] The decision came in 2022.[131] The new operation complex includes twenty office buildings totaling 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 m2), a wellness center, laboratory, and three parking garages.[134] It is designed to house nearly 10,000 employees.
The current chairman of the board and CEO of ExxonMobil Corp. is Darren W. Woods. Woods was elected chairman of the board and CEO effective January 1, 2017, after the retirement of former chairman and CEORex Tillerson. Before his election as chairman and CEO, Woods was elected president of ExxonMobil and a member of the board of directors in 2016.[135]
As of January 8, 2025[update], the current ExxonMobil board members are:[136]
Michael J. Angelakis, chair and chief executive officer of Atairos Group Inc.
Angela Braly, former president and CEO of WellPoint (now Anthem)
Maria S. Dreyfus, CEO and Founder of Ardinall Investment Management
John D. Harris II, former CEO, Raytheon International, Inc.
^In official SEC filings, the company name is split into two words and phrased asExxon Mobil Corporation. However, in most media and communications, when used without "Corporation", the two names are merged into a single word asExxonMobil. Occasionally, the company is also abbreviated toEM, especially with regard to the company's retail rewards program.
^Yang, DaHyung (2018).Incremental Landscape at a Baton Rouge Oil Refinery: Temporal Framework for Phytoremediation in Louisiana Cancer Alley (Thesis). Louisiana State University Libraries.doi:10.31390/gradschool_theses.4704.
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