• 17 Jul 2009 at 3:16 PM

Exxon’s Efforts To Help T. Boone Pickens

By Greg Michaels

Texas Oil field.jpgConcrete artist T. Boone Pickens’ hedge funds are reportedly up 79% this year. While illusions of $200 oil are probably long gone, TBP is likely taking comfort that Exxon is doing its part to put a floor under the price of oil by reducing access to potential supply. The Texas General Land Office is accusing Exxon of “malicious” sabotage of oil wells on fields that it no longer wanted. To avoid giving other producers any opportunity to extract black gold from former Exxon grounds, the company apparently plugged its abandoned wells with a carefully balanced mixture of trash, sludge, explosives and cement plugs. But instead of an act of sabotage warranting a $1 billion fine, Exxon contends that it was on an environmental mission of mercy

“The allegations paint a false and misleading picture of Exxon Mobil’s involvement in the O’Connor oil and gas leases,” said Margaret Ross, an Exxon Mobil spokeswoman. “The area in which the wells are located has a water table very close to the surface. It was critical that Exxon protect the groundwater by plugging the wells solidly and thoroughly.”

Compared with paying close to $5 billion for offloading 11 million gallons of crude into Prince William Sound, threatening Exxon with raiding its petty cash jar for $1 billion for its unique environmental program seems downright punitive.

Comments (21)

  1. 1
    Posted by merkin capital partners | July 17, 2009 at 3:30 PM

    XOM is king.

  2. 2
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:31 PM

    Thanks Greg, that was interesting.
    Suck it, retards. Go get a job for fuck’s sake. If you can’t get a job at least read the freakin’ article, I would have thought that reading that Exxon plugged the well heads with explosives would have been enough to get you tools attention.

  3. 3
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:33 PM

    @2 like how we’re now pre-empting negative comments on Greg posts. Way to entrench Greg’s situation further.

  4. 4
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:36 PM

    I realized just now that I cant remember the old DB layout. Am I alone?

  5. 5
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:41 PM

    Hey Greg.

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:41 PM

    I miss the Mike’s hard lemonade ads.

  7. 7
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:44 PM

    Does anyone else skip Greg’s articles and go straight to the comments?

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:45 PM

    @6 – Thats IT! That is what Greg’s voice sounds like. The guy from those commercials.
    Thank you

  9. 9
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:50 PM

    @7 greg’s articles are about as long as most comments, so i read them by accident at times.

  10. 10
    Posted by HeadlessHorseman | July 17, 2009 at 3:51 PM

    Tough day to be an Exxon PR executive.
    Exxon PR exec:
    “The company…uhh, filled the old oil wells with explosives to…uhh, um, in an attempt to…uh…deter any uhh, and the groundwater..(asided to PR staff: Can you pull the fucking fire alarm already, I’m dying up here)…because the water tables and…our long-standing commitment to the environment..

  11. 11
    Posted by NakedShort | July 17, 2009 at 3:57 PM

    I love XOM.
    They litigated Valdeez damaged from 5 billion down to 500 million. From 1996 the settlement accrued interest at 5.9%; meanwhile XOM stock went up 272% over that time not including dividends.
    Now thats killing it.

  12. 12
    Posted by Novice | July 17, 2009 at 3:57 PM

    Greg, let me join the bandwagon of haters here. Your last paragraph isn’t facetious enough to be funny, and your defense of Exxon is out of touch. If there’s one thing that the limousine liberals and paranoid hedgies here can agree on, it’s the righteous outrage of “what the hell did you do to my land!” (cf: Greenwich bulldozers settling property disputes)
    Burying perf gun explosives in South Texas is inherently funny. And you blow it.

  13. 13
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 3:59 PM

    @3, you’re right. I am more retarded than the crybaby retards.
    I suck, sorry 3 and Greg. I actually enjoy Greg’s articles and I like his more subtle sense of humor. Sometimes the brilliant but deranged Bess makes me laugh out loud, but there has to be room for more subtle humor as well.
    -2

  14. 14
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 4:11 PM

    @13 we’ve all said silly things right after a hit of the devil’s crystal. Glad you’re back.

  15. 15
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 4:12 PM

    @2/13 i was just fucking with you.
    -3

  16. 16
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 4:25 PM

    (!)
    :

  17. 17
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 4:32 PM

    Greg’s humor has more appeal to those who appreciate dry humor. That’s it. The loudest members of the DB crowd don’t appreciate it but I would be willing to bet that those who comment less enjoy his writing as well as / along side of Bess’s more “deranged” (to quote CG) humor. Hecklers say what you want. I wish I could tell you I was Greg, or his mom cheerleading him, or even 2/13, but I’m some other schmuck.
    -Some other schmuck

  18. 18
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 5:30 PM

    Greg, you are actually worse than the regular commenters say.
    Seriously, no mention that this was done in 1950?
    You are a dull tool.

  19. 19
    Posted by guest | July 17, 2009 at 6:00 PM

    @18 You need help with your reading comprehension?
    I hear many state unemployment offices pay for vocational training, maybe this link can help you. http://www.abcteach.com/directory/reading_comprehension/grades_24/
    Ask a competant adult (obvs not your parents) to read it to you.

  20. 20
    Posted by guest | July 18, 2009 at 12:09 AM

    I fucking LOVE oil!

  21. 21
    Posted by guest | July 20, 2009 at 10:22 AM

    @19 Maybe you could join him for the spelling class….

Leave a comment

You can log in with your account or comment as a guest below.

   or