Exxon Mobil Corporation, styled as Exxon Mobil, is an American multi-national oil and gas company based in Irving, Texas. It is the second largest direct descend of John D. Rockefeller III’s Standard Oil Company, which was founded in New York City in 1890. The company is a publicly held company (although it does have some private stocks), with its shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company has two main businesses: the oil and gas division, which produces and markets petroleum products like gasoline, diesel, and chemicals; and then mobil corporation, which are responsible for buying oil and gas reserves around the world. At present, Exxon Mobil is the biggest publicly traded oil and gas producer in the world, second only to Royal Dutch Petroleum. Because of this, and the fact that the company has many joint ventures and investments internationally, it is one of the largest companies in the energy industry. And according to one analyst, Exxon Mobil could be the biggest energy company in the world, beating out Conoco, at least for the time being.
In the late seventies, Exxon got into trouble when Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, or EESA, which required all energy companies to buy certain stocks, including those from overseas oil fields that were experiencing negative effects from price increases. This made Exxon Mobil wants to increase its offshore gas production capacity. A few years later, Exxon Mobil bought Texaco, one of the largest producers of synthetic lubricants in the United States, for just under ten million dollars. At the time, it seemed like an excellent decision–Exxon had already established itself in Europe, South America, Australia, Japan, India, and several Middle Eastern countries, and it looked like it was ready to expand its presence in the Middle East. Unfortunately, a few months later, on October 31st, the company announced that it would not be participating in the acquisition of a Swiss firm called Marathon Oil, because of “problems relating to the relationship between Marathon and its Russian partners.”
Two weeks later, on November 7th, Exxon Mobil announced that it would purchase a stake in a Russian oil company called Vitol Group, for around two hundred million dollars. Several months later, on December 6th, the company announced that it had bought a thirty-eight percent stake in a Chinese oil company for around six hundred million dollars. With these two acquisitions, and the future potential of the Vitol Group for Exxon Mobil, it is safe to assume that the company is planning on expanding its operations in the Asia/Pacific region. The timing of these announcements is extremely important, as China is one of the fastest growing sources of oil, and potentially the fastest growing source of gas in the world.
There are several questions that need to be answered, however, if these reports are true. Will these investments result in lower prices for gasoline in the United States? Will the United States be leaving behind in the race to become the world leader in synthetic motor oil production? And will the Vitol acquisition affect the economics of Exxon Mobil’s gasoline output plans, or their investment in Synthetic Oil?
While the answers to these questions might vary depending on who you ask, one thing is clear: Any company with aspirations of becoming a major global player in the oil markets should be watching the oil markets very carefully. If they see a big change in the price of gasoline, it means that something is about to happen. So, if you’re a big oil player in the world, or a small company with dreams of becoming one, make sure that you’re watching the trends in the world of oil. Be prepared for the next wave of innovations in the world of motor oil, whether it be in the form of new synthetic motor oil, or greener transportation solutions, that can set the foundation for even bigger things.