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Exxon is the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company.
| Date Added: May 31, 2008 01:24:09 AM |
| Author: |
| Category: Energy and Environment |
On January 1, 1973, Exxon formally replaced the Esso, Enco, and Humble brand names. Prior to this date, the Esso brand was a trademark of the Standard Oil Company. Esso had been attracting protests from other Standard Oil subsidiaries due to the similarity between the name “Esso” (pronounced S-O) and the name Standard Oil (acronym SO). Because of this, the company was restricted from doing business in some states. In states where this restriction existed, Standard Oil operated under either the Humble or Enco names.
In 1960, Jersey Standard became the parent company to all three names (Esso, Enco, and Humble). Then in 1972 Jersey Standard became Exxon in order to create a unified brand. Following this, all US stations were formally rebranded to Exxon.
Currently, Exxon is the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company.
The most notable event in Exxon’s history occurred in Prince William Sound, Alaska, on March 24, 1989. To this date, the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez is still considered to be the most devastating and horrific man-made disaster ever to occur.
Several factors contributed to the extent of damage occurring from this oil spill. The remote location of Prince William Sound (accessible only by helicopter or boat) made response efforts extremely hard. The difficulty of the required response made required efforts considerably more ineffective than they otherwise might have been.
10.8 million gallons of oil were spilled into the habitat of salmon, sea otters, seals, and sea birds. Eventually 11,000 square miles of ocean were covered in crude oil.
After investigation, the cause of the incident was concluded to have been due to these contributing factors:
1. A Third Mate left in charge failing to properly maneuver the vessel. This was possibly due to fatigue or being overworked.
2. The Master did not provide proper navigation watch. This was found to possibly be due to alcohol consumption.
3. Exxon did not properly supervise the Master and also did not supply the Valdez with a sufficient crew.
4. The US Coast Guard did not provide an effective vessel traffic system.
An Anchorage jury awarded the plaintiffs $287 million in actual damages and $5 billion in punitive damages in 1994. Exxon appealed and the original judge was ordered to reduce the punitive damages. In 2002 the judge announced that he was reducing the punitive damages to $4 billion. Exxon appealed again and after several more years and up and down punitive figures, the punitive award settled at $2.5 billion. Again, Exxon appealed and the case made its way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in February 2008 and a final decision is expected sometime in July 2008.
Current profit figures for Exxon are as follows. In 2006 Exxon reported profits of $39.5 billion. In 2007 Exxon reported profits of $40.6 billion. Exxon’s profit margin has been staying at roughly 10%, which means that their profits have been increasing because of the huge price jumps in crude oil. Gas prices are going up so the dollar amount of sales has also been rising. Profits are up and profit margins are holding steady. |
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