Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power (87 page)

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Authors: Steve Coll

Tags: #General, #Biography & Autobiography, #bought-and-paid-for, #United States, #Political Aspects, #Business & Economics, #Economics, #Business, #Industries, #Energy, #Government & Business, #Petroleum Industry and Trade, #Corporate Power - United States, #Infrastructure, #Corporate Power, #Big Business - United States, #Petroleum Industry and Trade - Political Aspects - United States, #Exxon Mobil Corporation, #Exxon Corporation, #Big Business

BOOK: Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power
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9.
“The notion . . . go down well”: Skjærseth, “ExxonMobil: Tiger or Turtle?” “The biggest thing . . . comfortable”:
BusinessWeek
, April 9, 2001.

10.
Remarks at “The Politics of Development and Security in Africa’s Oil States,” Johns Hopkins University School for Advanced International Studies, April 2, 2009.

11.
For a thorough account of the World Bank plan, see Gary and Reisch, “Chad’s Oil: Miracle or Mirage,” Catholic Relief Services.

12.
Philippe Le Billon: Remarks at “The Politics of Development and Security,” op. cit. “The Chadians came in”: Interview with an industry security executive. “There were regular . . . the abuses”: N’djamena to Washington, July 6, 1999 (cable obtained by the author from a confidential source).

13.
Remarks at “The Politics of Development and Security,” op. cit.

14.
“The oil project . . . pristine poverty”: Testimony by Donald Norland before House Subcommittee on Africa, op. cit.

15.
Author’s correspondence with Hassaballah Soubiane, translated from his original French.

16.
Ibid.

17.
Lawrence Summers’s letter of August 14, 2000, made available by Ian Gary.

18.
N’djamena to Washington, July 6, 1999.

19.
All quotations, Goldthwait letters, op. cit.

20.
Ibid.

21.
Harry Longwell:
Fortune
, April 16, 2001; Gary and Reisch, op. cit.

22.
Interviews with two individuals familiar with the N’djamena station.

23.
Ibid.

24.
Interview with Karen Kwiatkowski (BVH).

25.
National Intelligence Council: “Global Trends 2015,” http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_globaltrend2015.html. Walter Kansteiner: From author’s transcription of the conference.

26.
Quotation from author’s interviews with a U.S. official involved.

27.
Interview with Salibou Garba.

28.
All quotations from Goldthwait letters, op. cit.

29.
“Snapshot Summary,” Esso Exploration & Production Chad, Inc., Chad Export Project Update no. 13, 2003.

CHAPTER EIGHT: “WE TARGET OIL COMPANIES”

 

1.
Frank Sprow; all biographical details and quotes: Interview with Frank Sprow.

2.
ExxonMobil’s $100 million contribution: ExxonMobil Web site, examined and typed.

3.
All quotations, interview with Kert Davies.

4.
Ibid.

5.
Ibid.

6.
Letter and memo to John H. Marburger, assistant to the president for science and technology, from Brian P. Flannery, March 18, 2002.

7.
The ExxonMobil Foundation.

8.
Oreskes, “Behind the Ivory Tower.”

9.
Dressler and Parson,
The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change
, p. 3.

10.
Details of the raid: “Greenpeace Unlawful Entry to ExxonMobil Corporation Headquarters,” letter from Kenneth P. Cohen to Lon Burnam, July 1, 2004; Associated Press, May 27, 2003; Fort Worth
Star-Telegram
, May 28, 2003. Tom Cirigliano:
Dallas Morning News
, May 28, 2003.

11.
Public Interest Watch: Form 990, August 1, 2003.

12.
New York Times,
April 19, 2004.

13.
Securities and Exchange Commission, “Concept Release on Possible Revisions to the Disclosure Requirements Relating to Oil and Gas Reserves,” December 12, 2007.

14.
“This marks the tenth year”: “ExxonMobil Replaces Production for Tenth Year in a Row,” February 18, 2004, press release. “Continued high-quality additions”: “ExxonMobil Replaces Production for Ninth Year in a Row,” January 28, 2003, press release.

15.
“A well-established”: ExxonMobil Form 10-K, February 28, 2007. Also, interviews with managers and executives who participated in the reserve counting system.

16.
Interview with an executive involved with the process. Interview with Mark Gilman.

17.
ExxonMobil 10-K filings and annual press releases, op. cit.

18.
Steve LeVine,
ForeignPolicy.com
, February 16, 2011.

CHAPTER NINE: “REAL MEN—THEY DISCOVER OIL”

 

1.
Interview with Lee Raymond.

2.
Arbogast,
Resisting Corporate Corruption;
Time,
July 28, 1975.

3.
Forbes,
August 5, 2009.

4.
Interview with Lee Raymond.

5.
“Liquefied Natural Gas: Understanding the Basic Facts,” Department of Energy, August 2005.

6.
“Balancing Natural Gas Policy: Fueling the Demands of a Growing Economy,” National Petroleum Council, September 25, 2003. http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/publications/npc/03gasstudy/npcgas03_preface.pdf.

7.
Reuters,
June 21, 2005.

8.
Coll,
Ghost Wars
, p. 398.

9.
New York Times
, December 2, 1998. “sour lemon”: Author’s interview with a person who attended.

10.
“I have to say . . . more talks”:
BusinessWeek
, July 14, 1975.

11.
Bloomberg, April 3, 2011.

12.
Course of gas negotiations: Interviews with individuals familiar with the Saudi gas project.

13.
Details about the Al-Hamra attack: National Association for Business Economics,
May 15, 2003;
Los Angeles Times,
May 17, 2003.

14.
Interview with Lee Raymond.

15.
Ibid.

16.
The causes of the failure of the Saudi negotiations have been reported in the
New York Times
, June 24, 2002, and the
Washington Post,
June 6, 2003. Raymond’s outlook, the final meeting with Al-Faisal, and all quotations from interviews with individuals familiar with the negotiations.

17.
All quotations from interviews with executives and directors involved.

18.
Ibid.

19.
Ibid.

CHAPTER TEN: “IT’S NOT QUITE AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS”

 

1.
Interviews with current and former ExxonMobil executives.

2.
Ibid.

3.
Ibid.

4.
Interviews with a former ExxonMobil manager.

5.
Interviews with Lee Raymond.

6.
Interviews with current and former ExxonMobil executives.

7.
“the charm of a con man”: Sidney Jones, writing an obituary in the
Independent
, May 15, 2003; Jendrzejczyk died at age fifty-three. “meeting over”: Interview with an activist who met with Exxon executives during this period. “We’re doing a great job”: Interview with Arvind Ganesan.

8.
Interview with Arvind Ganesan.

9.
All quotations from “Notes for a Presentation to ExxonMobil,” October 27, 2002, provided to the author.

10.
Interview with Bennett Freeman.

11.
Interview with a former ExxonMobil executive familiar with Lee Raymond’s reaction.

12.
Interview with a former senior BP executive.

13.
Chief Executive,
April 2001.

14.
Interviews with ExxonMobil executives.

15.
Chief Executive,
op. cit.,
and Browne,
Beyond Business
, pp. 197 and 234.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: “THE HAIFA PIPELINE”

 

1.
All quotations from “Post-War Planning,” statement by Douglas J. Feith, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, February 11, 2003. Examined and typed at: http://policy.defense.gov/sections/public_statements/speeches/archive/former_usdp/feith/2003/february_11_03.html. “the fucking stupidest”: Woodward,
Plan of Attack
, p. 281.

2.
“literally nothing”: Donald Rumsfeld’s remarks during an Infinity Radio call-in program, November 15, 2002, as reported by CBS News. War aims, Douglas Feith statement: Senate Foreign Relations Committee, op. cit.

3.
Daniel Yergin:
Washington Post
, December 8, 2002.

4.
115 billion barrels of proven reserves: The Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy cited this figure in 2007; it attributed the estimate to the
Oil & Gas Journal
. The E.I.A. noted in its “Country Analysis Brief” for Iraq that the 115-billion-barrel estimate dates to 2001 and was based “largely on 2-D seismic data from nearly three decades ago.” Updated technology may reveal “an estimated additional 45 to 100 billion barrels” of recoverable oil, the E.I.A. said. Iraq’s pre-invasion production hovered around 3 million barrels per day; Iraqi planners believed that figure might be raised to 6 million barrels per day with substantial investment. Saudi Arabia announced plans in 2005 to raise its production capacity to about 12.5 million barrels per day; in 2008, it produced just under 11 million barrels per day.

5.
Interview with Tariq Shafiq.

6.
“We’re not here for the oil”: Interview with an administration official who received the talking points. Paul Bremer quotations:
Washington Post
, June 23, 2003.

7.
Interview with Philip J. Carroll Jr.

8.
Future of Iraq Project, Oil and Energy Working Group, Subcommittee on Oil Policy, Summary Paper, April 20, 2003, p. 5. A redacted version of the paper was declassified and published by the National Security Archive: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB198/FOI%20Oil.pdf.

9.
Arile Cohen, and Gerald P. O’Driscoll Jr., “The Road to Economic Prosperity for a Post-Saddam Iraq,” Heritage Foundation Backgrounder no. 1594, September 24, 2002.

10.
“broad-based, mass privatization”: “Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable Growth,” U.S.A.I.D., quoted in Chandrasekaran,
Imperial Life in the Emerald City
, p. 115. “This was part . . . resurfacing”: Interview with an administration official involved in the discussions.

11.
Interviews with Gary Vogler and Michael Makovsky.

12.
Interviews with Gary Vogler, Michael Makovsky, and a third Bush administration official involved.

13.
Philip Carroll would resign: Interview with a former National Security Council official. All quotations: Interview with Carroll.

14.
A copy of the memo was provided to the author by a C.P.A. official other than Philip Carroll.

15.
Feith’s history and thinking about oil security are from interviews with Douglas Feith.

16.
Both quotations from “Some Historical Lessons from the World Oil Market,” Pentagon PowerPoint Briefing, April 28, 2005, provided to the author by Douglas Feith.

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