Private Empire. ExxonMobil and American Power

Private Empire. ExxonMobil and American Power

Private Empire. ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll won the FT/Goldman Sachs prize for best business book of 2012 and deservedly so, the book is actually much better than the publicity. It focusses on the fairly recent history of ExxonMobil under Lee Raymond and Rex Tillerson. Each chapter covers a particular topic like the company’s operations in Indonesia, Russia, Chad and Equatorial Guinea, position on global warming and political strategy in the US. (Longford is not mentioned.) The book is well researched and balanced. On the whole Coll let’s the facts speak for themselves. The book does lack an overall theme and tends to run out of puff at the end. However I would recommend it for anyone interested in the oil industry mega majors.