CEO Rex Tillerson says that it will be business as usual, climate change or no climate change, but the biggest customer is taking a dive into renewable future.
It seems that Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO, Rex Tillerson, is not willing to budge from his position of a serious threat that climate change poses for the planet, and is not going to do so in the near future, as it seems. However, its biggest customer, the US military, is having other ideas though. It has just recently released a new energy security guideline, including how it intends to wean itself off from the petroleum products.
According to the released ‘Energy Security and Sustainable Strategy’, codenamed ES2 Strategy, it serves as a rebuke to Tillerson’s business model which says that it can no longer continue to assume that it has unimpeded access to energy, water, and other resources that are required to sustain a globally responsive US army.
It further goes on to say that the ‘ES2 Strategy will make the Army be resilient whilst preserving the future of the planet at the same time.’ If this plan holds weightage, then it would definitely ruffle the feathers of the Tillerson since it is the largest consumer of the petroleum products, second to the federal government.
The strategy calls for the inculcation of the concept of energy security and sustainability covering aspects of planning, procurement, system design, and construction. In terms of energy security, the Army will call upon to ensure that the energy resources are diversified and not redundant or disconnected from time to time.
It is obviously clear that the Army will not ‘turn off the taps’ overnight, but the reports state that it wants to slow down the torrent of petroleum supply down to a trickle. It must be stressed here that the main driving force behind this is the need for ‘force effectiveness’.
There are two other driving factors too – the budgetary cuts forcing US military in trying to be creative in managing its forces well while being on tight budgets and other that despite currently low oil prices, sooner than later, they will also shoot up, probably not through the roof.
While Mr. Tillerson may not feel intimidated by the military’s plan, only time will tell if he will have a ‘change of heart’ should the plan materialize, and whether he also steps into the renewable energy sector bandwagon, or if the Exxon Mobil CEO continues to play down the effects on climate change, as he has been for the past three years.
Exxon Mobil stock price ended the day at $103.02, a gain of 0.40%.
Central Arkansas Water says the state, federal government, and Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company are “unacceptable”, as the focus of New Jersey oil spill settlement turn towards Paulsboro.
A water utility company in central Arkansas, Central Arkansas Water, has decried the agreement between the state, federal government, and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Pipeline Company unacceptable. John Tina of the utility company says that he has objections to one provision that requires Exxon Mobil to treat one segment of the pipeline, which is “susceptible to longitudinal seam failure”.An executive summary released by CAW claims that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulations had a “zero tolerance” to pipeline failure. Exxon’s testing of the pipeline in 1991 and 2006 proved that these pipelines were indeed susceptible to failure.His second objection is the second provision, which requires Exxon Mobil to provide training to employees, who would be the first responders to the spill. In this case, Central Arkansas Water thinks that the pipeline is probably not insured. It recommends that training should be provided to all first responders to the spill, including local and county state emergency responders, i.e. those who are close to the spill impact.The third provision deals with the supplies and equipment to be located in three locations, two in Texas and one in Mayflower, which is not acceptable to the CAW since it is useless when the materials have to transport miles to the site and are deemed too insufficient.CAW has put forward 13 new provisions as a part of the addition to the consent decree, which ranges from pipeline removal from the Lake Maumelle Watershed to ensure that local and state emergency responders receive training in spill response. Ten public officials and utilities around Central Arkansas have also given their consent on comments, which were submitted by CAW yesterday on the last day of submitting comments.Meanwhile, on the other east side of the country, the Exxon Mobil Corporation settlement battle in New Jersey is heading for a decisive end. The deadline for public comments near its end and opponents took aim at another aspect of the deal in the town of Paulsboro with Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, throwing his weight behind opponents, who said that Paulsboro would not see the dime from the settlement. Environmentalists also share the same concerns that there is no guarantee that the public settlement money would go directly to Paulsboro but have pledged not to give up the fight yet.Exxon Mobil’s stock price ended the day at $85.24, down 0.30% from the previous day, ahead of the close in public comments on the settlements.
