Oil & Gas Corporate Profiles

Bailouts: ExxonMobil benefited from the Federal Reserve’s bond buyback program. Under the Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility, the Fed purchased ExxonMobil bonds with an amortized cost of $19,814,408. ExxonMobil also received royalty givebacks from the Department of Interior for its drilling operations on public lands.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to a review of 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, Exxon Mobil benefitted from $5.9 billion dollars in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Other Tax Issues: A review of financial statements by the Center for American Progress found that ExxonMobil paid an effective U.S. federal tax rate of 2.8% in 2021.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Exxon Mobil is estimated to benefit by as much as $688 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Job Cuts: In October 2020, ExxonMobil announced layoffs for 1,900 U.S. employees and as much as a 15% overall cut to its global staff.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Exxon’s Beaumont refinery is among the top three polluters in the country - behind the company’s Baton Rouge and Baytown refineries.
- After decades of resistance, ExxonMobil refineries are still spewing cancer-causing chemicals into the majority Black Charlton-Pollard community of Beaumont, Texas.
- In 2021, the facility released 36 pounds of small particle pollution per hour, amounting to 159 tonnes annually.
- The area’s Air Toxics Cancer Risk is 61, which is higher than in 84% of the country.
  - The oil refinery released 12,868 pounds of benzene into Beaumont’s air in 2020. Benzene is a known carcinogen that increases the incidence of leukemia.
- The area scores higher for levels and proximity to wastewater discharge than 67% of the country.
Exxon’s Baytown refinery is the second largest polluter in the country - behind the company’s Baton Rouge refinery.
- In 2021, The facility released 66 pounds of small particle pollution per hour, amounting to 288 tonnes annually.
  - Particle pollution is linked with premature death, heart attacks, asthma, and even Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
- The oil refinery released 25,049 pounds of benzene into Baytown’s air in 2019. Benzene is a known carcinogen that increases the incidence of leukemia.
- The area’s Air Toxics Cancer Risk is 76, which is higher than 99% of the country.
- The area scores higher for levels and proximity to wastewater discharge than 91% of the country.
- 18,689 people live within 3 miles of the facility. 54%, or 10,056 people, are of Hispanic origin.
- In 2019, ExxonMobil was also ordered to pay nearly $20 million in fines for Clean Air Act violations stemming from a fire at its Baytown, Texas, complex.
- From 2016 to 2019 five people were injured at the Baytown Complex, four workers were burned, and another lost a finger.
- From 2009 to 2019 OSHA has fined Exxon’s Baytown complex $40,000 for eight safety violations, seven serious.
- From 2009 to 2019 at least 15 employees or contractors filed lawsuits against the Baytown Complex for injuries ranging from benzene exposure to electrocutions and multiple injuries during explosions and fire evacuations.
On February 12th, 2020, the ExxonMobil oil refinery in majority-Black Baton Rouge, LA erupted in fire, releasing cancer-causing chemicals and enraging nearby residents.
- The refinery shed 1,900 jobs over two decades while receiving property tax breaks worth nearly $700 million.
- After the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board rejected Exxon’s requests for tax exemptions, the company lobbied to remove control over tax exemptions from local governments.
In 1989, Exxon’s Valdez oil tanker spilled at least 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The spill profoundly affected native Alaskans in the area, who relied on fishing for sustenance and income.
- Oil from the spill covered 1,300 miles of coastline, stretching more than 500 miles south to the Alaska Native village of Chignik on the Alaska Peninsula.
- Spilled oil killed thousands of animals and devastated the salmon and herring fisheries. Plummeting prices forced some members of the Eyak peoples to move away from their ancestral lands.
- The event was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, and decades later, pockets of crude oil remain in some places.

Additional Background:

ExxonMobil, alongside Chevron and BPl, lead the field in direct lobbying against policies to tackle climate change. In 2017, ExxonMobil was ranked the 5th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 1.98% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

Leaked documents show ExxonMobil knew since the 1980s that burning fossil fuels would create irreversible global warming. The company purposefully misled the public and investors on climate change, all while polluting the environment and making record profits.

In 2019, ExxonMobile paid a $616,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over Clean Air Act violations relating to a 2013 fire at its Beaumont, Texas, refinery that killed two employees and injured 10 others. In 2019, ExxonMobil was also ordered to pay nearly $20 million in fines for Clean Air Act violations stemming from a fire at its Baytown, Texas, complex. In 2017, ExxonMobil was fined $2.5 million for flaring gases at eight of its plants located along the Gulf Coast.

Quotes pulled from Greenpeace sting video:

ExxonMobil Lobbyist Was Recorded Describing How Trade Groups Are Used As A "Whipping Boy" To Avoid Scrutiny While Lobbying Congress. In a recorded conversation with Greenpeace activists posing as headhunters, ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy described his strategy of using advocacy groups when lobbying Congress, saying: "We don't want it to be us to have these conversations, especially in a hearing. It's getting our associations to step in and have those conversations and answer those conversations, especially those tough questions and be the - for lack of a better term - the whipping boy for some of these members of Congress." [Channel 4 News, 6/30/2021]
ExxonMobil Lobbyist Was Recorded Describing How His Company Fought Against Climate Science Through Shadow Groups: “We Were Looking Out For Our Shareholders.” In a recorded conversation with Greenpeace activists posing as headhunters, ExxonMobil lobbyist Keith McCoy said: "Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Uh, yes. Did we join some of these shadow groups to work against some of the efforts, yes, that's true. Um, but there's nothing illegal about that. You know, we were looking out for our investments. We were looking out for our shareholders." [Channel 4 News, 6/30/2021]

SEC Filings Index: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000034088&type=&dateb=&owner=include&count=40&search_text=

Marathon Petroleum

Bailouts: Marathon Petroleum Corporation took a $1.2 billion tax writeoff under the COVID-19 CARES Act, while Marathon Oil, its parent company, reported an $86 million write off. Under the bond buyback program, the Federal Reserve purchased $17.3 million in Marathon Petroleum bonds. Marathon also received givebacks from the Department of the Interior for its drilling operations on public lands.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, Marathon Petroleum reported a tax benefit of $1.5 billion in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Job Cuts: In September 2020, Marathon Petroleum announced it was terminating 12% of its workforce, amounting to 2,050 jobs nationwide.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Pollution from Marathon’s southwest Detroit refinery, located in one the most polluted zip codes in the country, has caused the rates of cancer and asthma to skyrocket among its predominantly Black residents.
A 2020 analysis showed three refineries in the Houston metropolitan area emitted levels of cancer-causing benzine above regulatory limits. One of those refineries was the Marathon’s Galveston Bay Texas City refinery which released emissions 11% above the limit. The population of Texas City is 30% Latino/Hispanic and 29% Black.
In 2019, a vapor chemical leak at Marathon’s Detroit refinery resulted in the hospitalization of at least two people. Marathon allegedly failed to inform residents of the dangers, including health impacts, associated with the released chemicals.
In 2019, Marathon sought exemptions to state environmental regulations in order to store pet coke uncovered near the Detroit River.
In 2010, Marathon was ordered to pay $4.7 million to the federal government after knowingly underpaying royalties from natural gas produced on federal and Indian leases.
In 2018, nearly 50 members of three Native American tribes in North Dakota filed a lawsuit claiming Marathon’s Andeavor profited from operating the High Plains crude oil pipeline through tribal lands without compensating landowners. In April 2020, a US District Judge ruled the tribal members were to exhaust remedies with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) before pursuing legal action, and the lawsuit was dismissed. In July 2020, the BIA ordered Marathon to shut down the pipeline and fined the company $187 million for damages associated with the trespass. Marathon appealed the order, and the U.S. Interior’s Board of Indian Appeals is yet to make a decision, leaving the BIA’s decision in effect.

Additional Background:

Marathon is one of the staunchest opponents to limiting carbon pollution and fighting climate change. Marathon chiefly opposes fuel economy (CAFE) standards for cars and trucks, leading lobbying efforts against the measures in 2017. Last year, the company was called out by Senate Democrats for their relentless attacks on climate action. In 2017, Marathon was ranked the 64th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 0.19% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

In 2016, a Marathon pipeline spilled more than 35,800 gallons of diesel fuel into the Wabash River in Indiana. The company paid $335,000 in fines for violation of the Clean Water Act related to the spill. In 2018, a second pipeline spill released 42,000 gallons of diesel into Big Creek in Indiana, and in 2019, a chemical leak at a Marathon oil refinery in southwest Detroit resulted in the hospitalization of at least two people. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marathon sought approval for reduced environmental monitoring at some of its refineries and gas stations, which was granted by the Trump administration.

SEC Filings Index: https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001510295&type=&dateb=&owner=include&count=40&search_text=

Chevron

Bailouts: Chevron took a $134 million tax writeoff under the COVID-19 CARES Act. Chevron benefited from the Federal Reserve’s bond buyback program, being one of four oil and gas corporations that the Fed spent $18 million to purchase bonds from. Chevron also received givebacks from the Department of the Interior for its drilling operations on public lands.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to a review of 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, Chevron benefitted from $2 billion dollars in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Other Tax Issues: A review of financial statements by the Center for American Progress found that Chevron paid an effective U.S. federal tax rate of 1.8% in 2021.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Chevron is estimated to benefit by as much as $427 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Job Cuts: In May 2020, Chevron announced plans to terminate 10-15% of its global workforce, amounting to 4,500 to 6,750 jobs, including nearly 700 in Houston, Texas. In October, Chevron announced further layoffs for 25% percent of Noble Energy’s employees, resulting in an additional 570 job losses.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Chevron tweeted “black lives matter” (no capitalization), drawing a fervent rage from climate activists who’ve spent decades fighting the consequences of the company’s environmental racism in Black communities.
- Despite Chevron’s public comments in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, Global Witness found that Chevron gave over four times more campaign funding to U.S. politicians who failed to uphold racial justice and civil rights legislation.
In October 2019, the state of California fined Chevron $2.7 million for oil leaks in Kern County, which is 54% Latino.
In 2012, Chevron’s refinery in Richmond, CA caught fire, forcing 15,000 primarily Black and Latino residents to seek medical attention for respiratory problems.
- The company pleaded no contest to 6 criminal charges, and paid $2 million in fines.
A 2009 survey found that children growing up near Chevron’s Richmond refinery are diagnosed with asthma at more than twice the national rate.
- Oil refining is the largest industrial air polluter in the Bay Area, which is linked to increased rates of asthma.
- In the past 5 years, Chevron’s Richmond refinery has had 12 quarters with significant environmental violations, received 205 informal enforcement actions, and paid $1,930,300 in EPA penalties.

Additional Background:

Chevron, alongside BP and ExxonMobil, lead the field in direct lobbying against policies to tackle climate change. Chevron was part of a fossil fuel industry campaign in support of Trump’s clean car standards rollback, and in 2020, it was revealed that Chevron was behind a pitch to drive a wedge between environmental groups and minority communities.

In 2012, a fire at Chevron’s Richmond, California oil refinery resulted in the evacuation of 14,000 residents and sent more than 15,000 people to the hospital for treatment for respiratory distress. In 2018, Chevron agreed to pay nearly $3 million in fines resulting from the Richmond fire and similar incidents in Mississippi, Utah and Hawaii. In 2019, Chevron’s Cymric oil field in California spilled more than 1.2 million gallons of crude oil and wastewater over a four month period. Chevron profited from the leak - bringing in $399,000 by refining and selling the spilled oil. In 2017, Chevron was ranked the 12th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 1.31% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

Koch Industries

Bailouts: As a privately-owned company, very little financial data is available. The Guardian reported that they were positioned to benefit from the Fed’s bond buying program.

Not-So-Fun Fact: In 2015, the Koch political network employed 1,200 staff, more than 3.5 times the size of the RNC.

Environmental Justice Problems:

The Koch brothers’ Flint Hills Resources refinery sits in Refinery Row in Corpus Christi, TX, where it spills cancer-causing and asthma-inducing pollution into nearby communities of color.
- A 2020 analysis showed two Refinery Row plants emitted levels of cancer-causing benzene. One of those plants was the Flint Hills Resources Corpus Christi East which released emissions 79% above the limit.
Koch Industries funded a disinformation campaign aimed at the Black church that used gospel music to portray oil and gas as beneficial to Black communities.
Koch-owned Georgia-Pacific was the subject of Company Town, a 2016 documentary detailing the environmental racism of a paper mill in Crossett, AK, that pumped 1.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals into a disproportionately Black community.

Additional Background:

Charles and David Koch have spent the past several decades funding one of the biggest political influence campaigns in history, a battle that was partly ideological and partly driven by a desire to protect their companies’ profits, which were principally drawn from fossil fuels.

The Koch network of political advocacy groups focused on a central wishlist early in the Trump administration, and virtually every item was passed under Trump. It included elimination of the Clean Power Plan and withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the gutting of our national monuments, fracking on public and indigenous lands, “streamlining” the environmental review process (ultimately resulting in Trump attempting to gut the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock environmental protection), and a campaign to force the EPA to stop settling lawsuits, a complaint which the Harvard Environmental Law Review called “mistaken”, and even the libertarian Niskanen Center labeled “nonsensical.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in the 2020 campaign cycle Koch Industries contributed $931,500 to members of Congress who incited an insurrection in the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

Chesapeake Energy

Bailouts: Chesapeake Energy Corp. received givebacks from the Department of the Interior for its drilling operations on public lands.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Chesapeake Energy is estimated to benefit by as much as $448 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Job Cuts: In April 2020, Chesapeake laid off 200 employees between its Oklahoma headquarters and the oilfield. In September 2020, the company announced further layoffs for an additional 200 workers and that it would be reducing its workforce by 15%.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Chesapeake targeted primarily low-income residents in Bradford County, PA, to lease out mineral rights to their land for fracking purposes.
Chesapeake settled accusations of discharging toxic fracking fluids into 27 sites in West Virginia, many of which are near low-income communities. The company had earlier pleaded guilty to three federal misdemeanor counts at one of the sites.
In 2015, Chesapeake was fined $2.1 million for under reporting gas production on land leased from Native tribes, cheating the Tribes of their royalty revenue while releasing dangerous pollutants onto their ancestral land.

Additional Background:

Chesapeake Energy was a leader in the fracking boom of the early 2000s through its use of lateral drilling techniques to extract shale. In 2017, Chesapeake was ranked the 90th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 0.1% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

In Pennsylvania, Chesapeake polluted drinking wells, leading to a $1 million fine from the Commonwealth, and faced allegations of cheating landowners out of royalty money. In 2013, Chesapeake paid a $3.2 million penalty, one of the largest of its kind levied by the federal government, to settle Clean Water Act violations arising from its fracking operations in West Virginia. In June 2020, Chesapeake declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Occidental Petroleum

Bailouts: Occidental Petroleum received a $195 million tax benefit under the COVID-19 CARES Act. Occidental was part of a vast lobbying effort by the oil and gas industry to gain access to the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program. The company also benefited from a Trump administration bailout effort that granted reduced royalty rates for drilling on public lands and waters in 2020.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Occidental Petroleum is estimated to benefit by as much as $148 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Job Cuts: In January 2020 Occidental announced significant staffing layoffs, although no specific number of jobs cut was given. According to data compiled from public shareholder filings, the total number of employees at Occidental Petroleum fell by 2,600 employees from 14,400 in December of 2019 to 11,800 in December of 2020.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Occidental expanded its toxic facility in the predominantly Black Cancer Alley in 2019.
Occidental Petroleum made headlines for its pollution of indigenous communities in Peru. The company allegedly spilled oil and dumped toxic waste into local waterways, causing widespread health issues, including premature deaths and birth defects.
Occidental Petroleum violated the sovereignty of the U’wa people of northern Columbia by drilling in their sacred Samore block. The U’wa led a massive campaign of nonviolent resistance that successfully prevented Occidental from drilling after the exploratory stage.
In 2004, an Occidental subsidiary reached a settlement for releasing cancer-causing chemicals into the predominantly Latino community of Pasadena, TX, and the disproportionately Black community of Louisville, KY.
In 2014, an Occidental subsidiary reached a settlement for polluting the Passaic River near the predominantly Black city of Newark, NJ.

Additional Background:

While Occidental recently pledged to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, environmental advocates have raised concerns that the company’s carbon capture and storage process would fulfillfulfil its mid-century goal.

In 2008, a chemical spill at an Occidental facility in Pennsylvania caused a cloud of toxic gas and forced 2,000 residents to be evacuated. In 2020, Occidental was fined $18.25 million for its failure to track a well that caused a home explosion that killed two people in 2017. In 2017, Occidental was ranked the 55th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 0.26% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

Valero Energy

Bailouts: Valero Energy was one of the top 5 oil and gas companies that received the most benefits available to large publicly-traded corporations in response to COVID-19. Valero received a $238 million tax writeoff under the COVID-19 CARES Act. Valero also benefited from the Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility. The Fed purchased Valero Energy bonds with an amortized cost of $8.3 million.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to a review of 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, Valero benefitted from $1.9 billion dollars in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Low-income Latino communities in the Manchester area of Houston, TX, continue to fight against hydrogen cyanide pollution of their air from Valero’s petro-chemical plant, which leaked harmful chemicals during Hurricane Harvey.
- Exposure to hydrogen cyanide impacts nearly every organ in the body, especially the brain, heart, and lungs, and can be fatal in high concentrations.
- Manchester residents face a 22% higher risk of cancer than the overall Houston urban area.
A 2020 analysis showed two Refinery Row plants emitted levels of cancer-causing benzene. One of them was Valero Corpus Christi East which released 44% above the limit since 2018. The population of Corpus Christi is 64% Latino/Hispanic.
Valero is seeking approval to build a crude oil pipeline in Memphis, TN, that would cut through several Black communities and the municipal wellfield that provides their drinking water.
In 2017, a malfunction and repeated flaring activity at Valero’s Benicia refinery released more than 80,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide into the Bay area’s atmosphere.

Additional Background:

Valero Energy is the second largest oil refiner in the country who is set to benefit from the Keystone XL pipeline as a prospective shipper and “anchor customer” for the project. Valero has lobbied for changes to biofuel and fuel economy standards. In 2010, Valero led the campaign to suspend California’s landmark climate law, and in 2018, the company spent almost $1 million to defeat Washington State’s carbon tax initiative.

Valero is the 36th worst air toxics polluter in the U.S. and is the oil industry’s 5th largest emitter of greenhouse gasses. Valero has settled with the EPA over Clean Air Act violations for $711 million in 2005, $230 million in 2007, and $2.85 million in 2020.

TC Energy

Bailouts: TC Pipelines LP, a subsidiary of TC Energy, benefited from the Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility. The Fed purchased TC Pipeline LP bonds with an amortized cost of $1,067,633.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, TC Energy reported a tax benefit of $816 million in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Environmental Justice Problems:

The Keystone XL pipeline would have carried oil from Alberta’s tar sands, where Tribal leaders say drilling has polluted water sources and violated Treaty rights.
The Keystone XL pipeline would have crossed the territory of 67 Native American Tribes, most of which fought construction out of environmental concerns.
The Keystone pipeline system has ruptured several times in the past decade, including spilling 407,000 gallons of oil near a South Dakota Indian reservation in 2017. These spills jeopardize the ability of indigenous peoples to hunt and fish for subsistence and for their economy.

Additional Background:

TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada Corp., is the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline. TC energy has rallied to save the project by claiming the pipeline itself would run on renewable energy, reducing emissions from using the oil itself by a mere fraction.

TC’s U.S.-based pipelines have a history of leaks and explosions. Since the Keystone pipeline has been in operation, it has leaked 9,700 barrels in November 2017 in Marshall County, South Dakota, and about 400 barrels each in Hutchinson County, South Dakota in 2016 and in Sargent County, North Dakota in 2011. In November 2019, about 383,040 gallons, or 9,120 barrels, of oil spilled from the Keystone pipeline in North Dakota. In June 2018, another of TC’s pipelines, the Leach XPress, exploded in West Virginia.

Shell

Bailouts:

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Royal Dutch Shell is estimated to benefit by as much as $336 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): Shell experienced an initial $2 billion loss as a result of changes to U.S. tax law under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but anticipated long-term savings from the law.

Job Cuts: In October 2020, Shell announced plans to lay off 9,000 jobs, more than 10% of its workforce. In December, the company announced layoffs for nearly 700 workers at its refinery in Convent, LA.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Shell is building a plastics facility on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, PA, that some worry could start to turn Appalachia into the next Cancer Alley.
Shell’s operations in the Cancer Alley town of Norco, LA’s Diamond community have received international recognition as a textbook example of environmental racism. One study found that the majority Black Diamond residents were exposed to toxin levels 100-1000 times those experienced by rural Louisianans.
- In 2018, Shell settled allegations that they had violated the Clean Air Act in Norco, paying a penalty of $350,000 and agreeing to “eliminate more than 150 tons of excess emissions of harmful air pollutants” each year at the facility.
In 2019, Shell was put on trial for its treatment of the Ogoni Nine, a group of Nigerian environmental activists protesting Shell’s pollution on their ancestral land who were executed by the military government in 1995. Witnesses who testified against the Ogoni Nine later recanted and claimed that Shell bribed them to testify against the Ogoni Nine.
Shell’s facilities in Galena Park, Texas— a low-income community that is 81% Hispanic —have contributed to decades of pollution that exceeds EPA limits for cancer-causing benzene.

Additional Background:

Royal Dutch Shell is the world’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas. In 2017, Shell was ranked the 9th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 1.67% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

Leaked documents show that Shell, alongside ExxonMobil, knew since the 1980s that burning fossil fuels would create irreversible global warming. The company purposefully misled the public and investors on climate change, all while polluting the environment and making record profits. In 2019, Shell committed to reduce emissions by much as 3% by 2021, and by 50% by 2050.

BP

Bailouts: BP benefited from the Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility. The Fed purchased BP Capital Markets America Inc. bonds with an amortized cost of $46,708,858.57. BP also received givebacks from the Department of the Interior for its drilling operations on public lands.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, BP is estimated to benefit by as much as $544 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): BP experienced an initial $1.5 billion loss as a result of changes to U.S. tax law under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but anticipated long-term savings from the law.

Job Cuts: In June 2020, BP announced it would cut 10,000 jobs, approximately 15% of its global workforce. A majority of the U.S.-based layoffs were expected to fall on the company’s Houston headquarters.

Environmental Justice Problems:

Following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a majority of landfills that received oil-spill solid waste were located in communities of color already bearing the brunt of industrial pollution.
BP has facilities in the Cancer Alley tract near the predominantly Black community of Baton Rouge, LA.
BP was ranked in the 15th out of 18 tiers in an assessment of oil and gas companies’ respect for indigenous rights in the Arctic.
- BP had planned to drill in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), but ultimately opted not to in the face of public pressure and low oil prices.
In 1988, BP workers in the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers International Union issued a report tying BP’s environmental racism in the U.S. to its support for the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Additional Background:

In 2010, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill pummelled 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion was the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history, killing 11 rig workers and devastating marine and wildlife in the Gulf. The disaster cost BP more than $69 billion in cleanup, fines, fees and settlements, but studies show the ecological impact of the spill was greatly underestimated.

In 2020, BP announced plans to halt oil and gas exploration in new countries, cut oil and gas production by 40%, lower carbon emissions by about a third, and boost capital spending on low-carbon energy to $5 billion annually. While claiming to support bold climate action, including the Paris agreement’s limits on global warming, BP lobbied the Trump administration to repeal rules governing methane emissions. In 2017, BP was ranked the 11th most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 1.53% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

ConocoPhillips

Bailouts: ConocoPhillips benefited from the Federal Reserve’s Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility. The Fed purchased ConocoPhillips bonds with an amortized cost of $9487786.19. ConocoPhillips also received givebacks from the Department of the Interior for its drilling operations on public lands.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to a review of 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, ConocoPhillips benefitted from $852 million dollars in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, ConocoPhillips is estimated to benefit by as much as $283 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Job Cuts: In December 2020, ConocoPhillips announced layoffs for 500 workers in Houston, TX.

Environmental Justice Problems:

ConocoPhillips operates a refinery in the heavily polluted city of Wilmington, CA. The community has a population that is 86% Latino and is predominantly low-income.
- Wilmington has one of the highest cancer rates in Southern California, and some of the state’s highest asthma rates.
In 2019, ConocoPhillips settled with homeowners in Oklahoma City who claimed the company’s West Edmond Oil Field polluted their water supply and soil with saltwater overflow.
ConocoPhillips operates an oil refinery in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Mossville, LA. Mossville residents have suffered the effects of industrial pollution for decades - with residents’ toxicology results showing dioxide levels among the highest ever recorded in the country.

Additional Background:

Last year, ConocoPhillips became the first U.S. oil and gas company to announce “net zero” emissions targets.

In 2017, ConocoPhillips was ranked the 21st most polluting company in the world, being responsible for 0.91% of global industrial emissions between 1988 and 2015.

EOG Resources

Bailouts: EOG Resources received a $150 million tax benefit under the COVID-19 CARES Act. EOG Resources was one of the top 5 oil and gas companies that received the most benefits available to large publicly-traded corporations in response to COVID-19. The company also benefited from a Trump administration bailout effort that granted reduced royalty rates for drilling on public lands and waters in 2020.

Layoffs: Unlike many of its peers, EOG Resources did not lay off employees in 2020.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, EOG Resources is estimated to benefit by as much as $317 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Devon Energy

Bailouts: Devon Energy received a $143 million tax benefit under the COVID-19 CARES Act. The company also benefited from a Trump administration bailout effort that granted reduced royalty rates for drilling on public lands and waters in 2020.

Layoffs: In September of 2020, Devon Energy announced an unspecified number of jobs would be cut. According to data compiled from public shareholder filings, the total number of employees at Devon Energy fell by 400 employees from 1,800 in December of 2019 to 1,400 in December of 2020.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Devon Energy is estimated to benefit by as much as $261 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

Pioneer Natural Resources

Bailouts: Pioneer Natural Resources benefited from a Trump administration bailout effort that granted reduced royalty rates for drilling on public lands and waters in 2020.

Subsidies: According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Pioneer Natural Resources is estimated to benefit by as much as $149 million per year from direct and indirect fossil fuel subsidies in the United States.

TCJA (2017 Tax Cuts): According to a review of 4th quarter 2017 financial statements, Pioneer Natural Resources benefitted from $625 million dollars in immediate one-time tax savings as a result of the Republican tax law passed that year.

Job Cuts: In October of 2020, Pioneer Natural Resources announced layoffs of 300 employees in the company’s Irving corporate office and in the Permian Basin. Another 100 layoffs were announced a few months later with the acquisition of Parsley Energy.