Private Empire


Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power
by Steve Coll
Main Points:

  •  Exxon and Mobil were both descendants of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller's oil monopoly. Following anti-trust laws in 1911, the two companies became private companies placed in an existential crisis: replace 1.5 billion barrels of oil/year. 
  • In March 23, 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashes into the reef of Prince William Sound near Alaska. This results in a destructive oil spill and a tightening up of risk management at the company. 
  •  Following 2000, when Exxon and Mobil joined- Exxon inherited 5 separatist insurgencies in Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Chad,  Venezuela and Aceh, Indonesia.

Adam Hochschild of the New York Times reviewed the book in a 2012 articled titled "A Well-Oiled Machine".

Foreign Policy's David Biello also reviewed the book in the Oil and Glory section of the online newsource.

For a great in-depth analysis of the book, one can watch an interview of author Steve Coll by the New America Foundation.

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