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Exxon Mobil
under its CEO Rex Tillerson frequently pressed the U.S. State
Department for help in negotiating complex business deals and
overcoming foreign opposition to its drilling projects, according to
documents reviewed by The Intercept.
The requests
for help — documented in diplomatic cables obtained through a
Freedom of Information Act request from DeSmogBlog as well as some
previously released by Wikileaks — raise a whole new series of
conflict-of-interest concerns about Tillerson, who retired as Exxon
Mobil CEO soon after being nominated by President-elect Donald Trump
to be the next secretary of state.
Consider:
Exxon Mobil sent State Department officials a request to help
overcome local opposition to fracking in Germany; in Indonesia, the
State Department acted as a advocate for Exxon Mobil during
contentious negotiations between the firm and the Indonesian
government over a major gas field in the South China Sea; and in
Russia, Exxon Mobil asked the U.S. ambassador to press the Russians
to approve a major drilling program, noting that a “warming of
U.S.-Russian relations” overall would also help the company.
Under the
leadership of Hillary Clinton, the State Department started its own
in-house energy promotion department, the Bureau of Energy Resources.
The team works on a variety of energy projects, but its most
high-profile programs have been focused on spurring the worldwide
spread of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) technology, with the
hope that doing so would blunt the influence of certain foreign
powers. The Bureau’s Unconventional Gas Technical Engagement
Program (formerly the Global Shale Gas Initiative) has in the past
engaged with Exxon Mobil for projects in Poland and eastern Europe.
“In
theory,” said Stephen Kretzmann, the executive director of Oil
Change International, “the U.S. State Department is supposed to
promote American values and human rights around the world, but in
practice that often comes into conflict with an agenda to ensure
access for American firms to new markets and reserves.”
In reality,
said Dan Beeton, international communications director at the Center
for Economic and Policy Research, “generally, the U.S. promotes
‘stability’ abroad, rather than democracy or human rights —
stability that benefits U.S. Businesses.”
Full
report:
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