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Authors: Steve Coll
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Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power
A
LSO
BY
S
TEVE
C
OLL
The Bin Ladens
Ghost Wars
On the Grand Trunk Road
Eagle on the Street
(with David A. Vise)
The Taking of Getty Oil
The Deal of the Century
PRIVATE EMPIRE
EXXONMOBIL
AND
AMERICAN POWER
Steve Coll
THE PENGUIN PRESS
NEW YORK
2012
THE PENGUIN PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
•
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in 2012 by The Penguin Press,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Steve Coll, 2012
All rights reserved
Map illustrations by Gene Thorpe
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Coll, Steve.
Private empire : ExxonMobil and American power / by Steve Coll.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-101-57214-6
1. Exxon Corporation. 2. Exxon Mobil Corporation. 3. Petroleum industry and trade—Political aspects—United States. 4. Corporate power—United States. 5. Big business—United States. I. Title.
HD9569.E95C65 2012
338.7'6223380973—dc23
2011044722
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
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Contents
Prologue.
“I’m Going to the White House on This”
Three.
“Is the Earth Really Warming?”
Four.
“Do You Really Want Us as an Enemy?”
Seven.
“The Camel and the Jackal”
Eight.
“We Target Oil Companies”
Nine.
“Real Men—They Discover Oil”
Ten.
“It’s Not Quite as Bad as It Sounds”
Thirteen.
“Assisted Regime Change”
Fourteen.
“Informed Influentials”
Sixteen.
“Chad Can Live Without Oil”
Eighteen.
“We Will Need Witnesses”
Twenty-one.
“Can’t the C.I.A. and the Navy Solve This Problem?”
Twenty-two.
“A Person Would Have to Eat More Than 3,400 Rubber Ducks”
Twenty-three.
“We Must End the Age of Oil”
Twenty-four.
“Are We Out? Or In?”
Twenty-five.
“It’s Not My Money to Tithe”
Twenty-six.
“We’re Confident You Can Book the Reserves”
Twenty-seven.
“One Plus One Has Got to Equal Three”
Author’s Note
F
our journalists made important contributions to this book while working as researchers during the four-year life of the project. Ben Van Huevelen, who is now the managing editor of the
Iraq Oil Report
, worked on that subject and ExxonMobil’s litigation with Venezuela, as well as on corporate responsibility issues in Africa and Indonesia. Megha Rajagopalan, a 2008 graduate of the University of Maryland who is now studying in China under the Fulbright Scholar Program, worked on global warming, the
Exxon Valdez
spill, and phthalate regulation; chapters five and twenty-two benefited greatly from her research. Ann O’Hanlon, a former
Washington Post
reporter who now works at the Justice Department, reported on many subjects, but especially on campaign finance and lobbying; her work particularly supported chapters three, seventeen, twenty-two, and twenty-three. Haley Cohen, a 2011 graduate of Yale University who is now on a university fellowship in Latin America, recontacted many interview subjects, checked facts and interpretations, and added fresh reporting throughout. The book benefited from other supporters and collaborators; the acknowledgments provide an accounting. I am grateful and deeply indebted to all.
Selected Cast of Characters
AT EXXONMOBIL
Russell Bowen
,
Maryland
territory manager
John Paul Chaplin
, lead country manager, Nigeria, circa 2005–2009
Ken Cohen
, vice president of public affairs
Tim Cutt
, lead country manager, Venezuela, 2005–2007
Steven K. Davidson
, outside lawyer in Venezuelan litigation
Theresa Fariello
, director of the Washington office, 2009 to present
Brian Flannery
, astrophysicist, climate policy adviser
Rosemarie Forsythe
, Russia adviser, planner for international political strategy
Edward G. Galante
, senior executive, contender to succeed Raymond, retired 2006
Otto Harrison
, lead executive on
Exxon Valdez
cleanup
Ralph Daniel Nelson
, lead country manager, Saudi Arabia, 2001–2004, director of the Washington office, 2005–2009
Lee R. Raymond
, chairman and chief executive, 1993–2005
James Rouse
, director of the Washington office, late 1990s–2005
Ron Royal
, lead country manager, Chad, circa 2006
James F. Sanders
, lead outside lawyer,
Alban v. ExxonMobil
Frank Sprow
, vice president, Safety, Health, and Environment, 2000–2005
Sherri Stuewer
, senior executive, environmental policy, 2006 to present
Rex Tillerson
, upstream executive with responsibility for Russia, later chairman and chief executive, 2006 to present
Glenn Waller
, lead country manager, Russia, circa 2003
Martin J. Weinstein
, lead outside lawyer,
John Doe v. ExxonMobil
Ronald I. Wilson
, lead country manager, Indonesia
IN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
Representative Joe Barton
, R-Texas, 1984 to present
George W. Bush
, president, 2001–2009
Richard B. Cheney
, vice president, 2001–2009
Representative John Dingell
, D-Mich., 1955 to present
Don Evans
, secretary of commerce, 2001–2005
Douglas Feith
, undersecretary of defense for policy, 2001–2005
Robert Gelbard
, ambassador to Indonesia, 1999–2001
Christopher Goldthwait
, ambassador to Chad, 1999–2004
Barack Obama
, president, 2009–
Judge Louis F. Oberdorfer
, United States District Court, Washington, D.C.
Colin Powell
, secretary of state, 2001–2005
Anton Smith
, United States chargé d’affaires, Equatorial Guinea, 2008–2009
Alexander Vershbow
, ambassador to Russia, 2001–2005
Marc Wall
, ambassador to Chad, 2004–2007
Paul Wolfowitz
, deputy secretary of defense, 2001–2005; president, World Bank, 2005–2007
IN AFRICA
Victor Attah
, governor of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, 1999–2007
Idris Déby
, president of Chad, 1990 to present
Simon Mann
, former British Army officer, led coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea
Teodoro Obiang Nguema
, president of Equatorial Guinea, 1979 to present
IN ALASKA
Joseph Haze
lwood
, Jr.
, captain,
Exxon Valdez
Mandy Lindeberg
, biologist, N.O.A.A.
Jeffrey Short
, chemist, N.O.A.A.
IN INDONESIA
Abu Jack
, guerrilla commander, Free Aceh Movement
Hasan di Tiro
, leader of Free Aceh Movement
IN MARYLAND
Andrea Loiero
, manager, Jacksonville Exxon
Stephen Snyder
, plaintiffs’ lawyer
IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz
, crown prince, later king of Saudi Arabia
Thamir Ghadhban
, senior official, Iraq Ministry of Oil
Ali Al-Naimi
, oil minister of Saudi Arabia
Prince Saud Al-Faisal
, foreign minister of Saudi Arabia
Hussain Al-Shahristani
, deputy prime minister, Iraq
IN RUSSIA
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
, president, Yukos Oil
Bruce Misamore
, chief financial officer, Yukos Oil
Vladimir Putin
, president, Russian Federation, 2000–2008
IN VENEZUELA
Hugo Chavez
, president, Venezuela, 1999 to present
Joseph Pizzurro
, Venezuela’s outside lawyer in litigation with ExxonMobil