Reappearance of sky-high price compensationPlayforfunvideopokergameThis time, the oil majors may bleed a lot.

According to the latest news from several foreign media, the oil giant Exxon Mobil has been sentenced to pay 7% to a former employee.PlayforfunvideopokergameCompensation of US $2.5 billion, equivalent to about 5.2 billion yuan.

So, what happened?

Huge compensation

Agence France-Presse, Reuters and other media reported that according to a court document released on Friday, a jury in Pennsylvania reached a verdict of 10 to 2 and ordered the US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil to pay 7% to a former mechanic with rare leukemia.Playforfunvideopokergame.25 billion dollars in compensation. The mechanic said benzene, a toxic chemical in ExxonMobil's gasoline and solvent, caused his cancer.

Paul Gill, 67, was reportedly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a rare form of blood and bone marrow cancer, in 2019. According to a statement issued by the law firm representing the couple, Jill insisted that the condition was caused by cleaning car parts with his bare hands every day when he was a mechanic at a Mobil service station in Philadelphia from 1975 to 1980.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has previously listed benzene as a known carcinogen. After more than a week of trial, the jury found that ExxonMobil inadvertently failed to warn about the health risks of benzene, the verdict was issued on Friday.

The law firm said it filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil (Exxon and Mobil merged in November 1999) in 2020, accusing the company of failing to warn the mechanic of the "known risk" of inhaling and handling benzene contained in petroleum products. Patrick Wiggle, a lawyer for the firm, saidPlayforfunvideopokergameThis verdict is important because it is a discovery that their gasoline can cause cancer. ExxonMobil has known for decades that benzene can cause cancer, but they have not issued a warning to the public or taken the most basic precautions to protect everyone. "

According to court documents, the jury ruled in favour of the plaintiff and the defendant ExxonMobil was awarded $725.5 million in damages and made it clear that $725 million of the compensation was awarded to Paul Gill and $500000 to his wife, Diana.

ExxonMobil responded that this is an unreasonable decision, before the final decision, the company will appeal to the court to overturn it, and expressed confidence to win the appeal.

It is understood that benzene is widely used in automotive fuel, resin and plastic solvents and other industrial applications in the United States. The EPA limits acceptable levels of benzene in fuels and says benzene is also found in emissions such as burning coal, oil, car exhaust and vaporization at gas stations.

Sky-high price acquisition

ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the United States and one of the largest listed oil companies in the world, is headquartered in Avon, Texas, with a latest market capitalization of $465.1 billion and its shares are up nearly 18% so far this year.

In fiscal 2023, ExxonMobil's revenue was $344.7 billion, down 16.42% from a year earlier, and net profit was $36 billion, down 35.40% from a year earlier. In the first quarter of 2024, ExxonMobil's revenue was $83.08 billion, down 4.02% from a year earlier, while net profit was $8.2 billion, down 28% from a year earlier.

Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a statement to approve ExxonMobil's $64.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, but banned pioneer founder and former CEO Scott Sheffield from joining or advising ExxonMobil's board of directors to resolve antitrust issues surrounding the acquisition.

FTC accused Sheffield of complicity in raising oil prices, including that Sheffield sent hundreds of messages about market developments, including pricing and production levels, to representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC). FTC also said Sheffield had made no secret of linking US oil production to OPEC and urged US oil producers to maintain "self-discipline" in terms of production.

FTC believes that the cooperation between OPEC and US oil producers has caused production growth to be lower than it should have in competitive markets, pushing up US energy prices at the expense of US households and companies.

Sheffield, who officially retired in December, founded Pioneer, the largest oil producer in Permian basins and the largest producer of pure shale oil in the United States. FTC pointed out that Sheffield is widely regarded as a leader in the US shale oil industry, but he used his position to work with oil producers and OPEC to limit their production and drive up energy prices, so he should not join ExxonMobil's board.

ExxonMobil said it would not let Sheffield join the board and that FTC's long-term investigation "did not raise any concerns about our business practices".

But ExxonMobil has other troubles. Calpers, the largest public pension fund in the United States, is considering voting against the re-election of CEO Darren Woods as a board member at ExxonMobil's shareholder meeting. The decision stems from dissatisfaction with ExxonMobil's lawsuit against two investors focused on climate change issues.

Earlier this year, investor groups such as Arjuna Capital and Follow This urged ExxonMobil and other oil majors to adopt stricter climate targets and develop plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from users of their products. However, ExxonMobil filed a lawsuit in a Texas court in January to prevent these investors from voting on climate proposals at the company's shareholder meeting in May. Although Arjuna Capital and Follow This subsequently withdrew the climate proposal, ExxonMobil said it would continue to sue the two investors.

Michael Cohen, chief investment officer of Calpers, expressed "deep concern" and hinted that ExxonMobil's actions may be aimed at suppressing the opinions of key shareholders. "ExxonMobil is far ahead of other companies in bringing lawsuits against the shareholders who made the proposal," Cohen said. "