SEC Probe Is the Latest Un-Exxon Thing Happening to Exxon
Even before a reported whistle-blower claim about Permian assets, it was clear the company had strayed far from its roots.
Darren Woods, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corp.
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergIn March 2018, Darren Woods hosted his second analyst day as CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp. He began by tantalizing his audience, saying “we have upped our disclosure a little bit”; no small thing for a company whose earnings calls were masterclasses in sucking the oxygen out of the room. For his pains, he was rewarded with this question toward the end from analyst Paul Sankey:
Not the sort of thing one normally hears at an Exxon event. And now that Exxon is said to be under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of overvaluing its Permian basin assets — as first reported by the Wall Street Journal — it is doubly memorable.