ExxonMobil

Offshore oil exploration and drilling is a big part of ExxonMobil’s operations and is responsible for about three percent of the world’s oil production. The company has been the source of several infamous environmental spills and has faced multiple safety incidents, many leading to worker fatalities. Workers in ExxonMobil’s offshore production can claim rights under maritime law when injured on the job.

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company with several types of operations:

• Offshore and inland exploration and drilling
• Refineries for producing petroleum products
• Chemical production and sales
• Gas stations and retail outlets 
• Carbon sequestration

ExxonMobil is the eighth largest company in the world when tracked by revenue. By market capitalization, it is the fifth largest publicly traded company in the world. In 2014, the Fortune 500 list ranked ExxonMobil as the second most profitable company.

It is the largest of the supermajors, the world’s largest oil and gas energy companies, with billions of barrels of oil in reserves worldwide. This is enough to produce oil at the current rate for nearly 15 years. The company also owns 37 refineries in 21 countries.

ExxonMobil History

The history of the modern ExxonMobil dates back more than 100 years to the founding of Standard Oil Company by Rockefeller and associates in 1870.

• In the following decades, Standard Oil would proliferate. In 1879, it bought a controlling interest in Vacuum Oil Company, which pioneered lubricant products and introduced the Mobil brand to the world.
• In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Standard Oil would have to break up into 34 independent companies.
• Its monopoly in the oil industry had grown too large and violated anti-trust laws.
• Two of the spin-offs were Vacuum, which was renamed Mobil Oil Corporation in 1966, and Jersey Standard, which became Exxon Corporation in 1972.
• The two companies merged in 1999 to become ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil Offshore Operations

ExxonMobil has found and tapped important oil reserves in various international offshore locations. In offshore Russia, for example, the company drilled the world’s longest well in 2007 to a depth of more than seven miles.

In 2011, after the moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP disaster was lifted, ExxonMobil made one of the biggest oil discoveries of the last decade.

Nearly 70 percent of the company’s revenues come from upstream operations, such as the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves.

Much of this happens offshore, including 1.5 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico. Smaller but significant offshore operations are ongoing in Africa, the Middle East, and Russia.

Environmental Accidents

ExxonMobil and the two companies that merged to form it have been involved in numerous environmental accidents over the years.

The worst occurred in 1989 when Exxon’s Valdez supertanker ran aground in the Prince William Sound in Alaska.

A huge amount of oil, about 11 million gallons, quickly spilled into the water. Although the spill volume was not the worst in history, it continues to rank number one in terms of environmental damage.

Hundreds of thousands of animals were killed, including birds, otters, whales, and fish; decades later, oil was still seen in the waters in the area.

Exxon spent billions on the clean-up but was widely criticized for a slow response to the disaster. Exxon was ordered to pay $5 billion in jury-awarded punitive damages, but after several appeals, the amount was lowered to $500 million.

Other ExxonMobil environmental accidents include:

• An oil spill in Brooklyn resulted in as much as 30 million gallons of leaked petroleum products. Much of the spill resulted from years of leaks; some products were nearly a century old.
• In 2012, an ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge leaked benzene, a toxic chemical.
• The same year, the company experienced a crude oil pipeline spill in the same location in Baton Rouge. 

These are just a few examples of the multiple leaks and spills ExxonMobil has been responsible for.

ExxonMobil Worker Accidents

In addition to letting environmental incidents occur, ExxonMobil has been guilty of allowing unsafe conditions to lead to accidents that hurt or killed workers:

• One was very recent and happened at a refinery in May of 2016. A contract worker died during maintenance work when a pipe fell and struck him on the head. He died on the site.
• A fire erupted at the same refinery in 2013 and injured 12 workers. Two of them later died because of complications from the burns.
• An explosion injured four ExxonMobil workers at a refinery in Torrance, California, in 2015. An investigation found that the company failed to eliminate hazardous conditions and was liable for the accident. ExxonMobil was fined over the incident, and the injured workers can sue for compensation.
• In 2024, a worker on an ExxonMobil platform off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada suffered electrical injuries. He had been doing maintenance on an electric heater when the equipment shocked him and hurt his hand.

Maritime Worker Rights

Workers’ safety is a big concern for a large company with so many offshore and shipping transport operations. ExxonMobil claims to be dedicated to safety as a top priority, yet accidents have happened, and workers have been injured and even killed on the job.

Maritime work, like the work of these employees and contractors, is very dangerous. They face the risks of fires and explosions, gas and oil leaks, rough weather, hazardous waters, and equipment accidents and failures that can have devastating consequences.

What these workers have on their side is maritime law. If you work for a company like ExxonMobil and your work qualifies as maritime work, these laws protect you.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act typically covers offshore and platform workers. It allows them to sue employers for compensation following an injury or to access workers’ compensation.

If you have been hurt on the job, talk to a maritime lawyer before agreeing to anything your employer offers. This is the best way to ensure you get everything you are owed.