Esso Australia

ExxonMobil Australia

File:ExxonMobil.svg ExxonMobil logo
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Oil and gas
Predecessor	Esso Australia
Founded	1933
Headquarters	Melbourne , Australia
Area served	Australia
Products	Oil, natural gas, retail fuel (Mobil brand)
Parent	ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil Australia—previously known as Esso Australia—serves as the Australian branch of the U.S.-headquartered oil and gas giant ExxonMobil. The company operates offshore oil and gas platforms in the Bass Strait, located southeast of Melbourne, along with gas processing plants situated at Longford and Long Island Point (LIP) in Hastings.

Retail fuel sales are conducted under the Mobil brand. Before the 1999 global merger between Exxon and Mobil, Esso Australia managed retail fuel outlets for 63 years until 1990, when Mobil acquired these service stations.

History

Between 1933 and 1962, ownership of Esso was held by Stanvac or Standard Oil. The Esso brand was officially registered in 1937. Following 1962, the Australian operations operated under the name Esso Standard Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd.

On 25 September 1998, the Esso Longford gas explosion tragically caused two fatalities and injured eight individuals. As Victoria’s primary natural gas supplier, this accident led to a disruption affecting hundreds of thousands of households for approximately 20 days, depriving them of gas heating and hot water. A Royal Commission attributed responsibility to Esso, resulting in a $2 million fine for breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act.

In November 1999, the worldwide merger between Esso and Mobil created ExxonMobil; their Australian subsidiaries also merged to form ExxonMobil Australia. This new entity inherited control over the Adelaide and Altona refineries. The Adelaide refinery ceased operations in 2003 and was dismantled by 2009.

A crude oil spill was reported at Longford in November 2012.

Projects

Esso is progressing with plans to establish a Gas Conditioning Plant adjacent to its existing Longford site. This facility, developed jointly with BHP Billiton, is designed to extract carbon dioxide from natural gas.

Industrial disputes

The Longford processing facility and Bass Strait offshore installations have experienced an extended industrial conflict involving outsourced maintenance personnel. Up until 2017, scaffolders, electricians, boilermakers, and fitters were employed through Esso contractor UGL in collaboration with German company KAEFER Integrated Services.

In 2017, UGL became the sole contract holder and offered re-employment to workers under a new enterprise agreement through its subsidiary MTCT Services. This agreement included reductions in wages and working conditions. Filed with the Fair Work Commission in late 2016, it was reportedly endorsed by five casual workers from Western Australia who had no evident connection to Esso’s Victorian operations.

Union representatives argue that this agreement was implemented without proper consultation with the Victorian workforce, conflicting with ExxonMobil’s global 'Statement on labour and the workplace,' which endorses collective bargaining rights. The majority of affected Longford employees rejected UGL’s proposal and have maintained protests outside the plant since June 2017. Both Esso and union groups have publicly criticized each other throughout this dispute. In July, Esso requested removal of protest banners and a large inflatable rat symbolizing UGL’s replacement workforce as 'scabs.'

Corporate tax strategies

In November 2017, employees impacted by wage reductions at Esso contractor UGL journeyed to Canberra to demonstrate against the tax policies of ExxonMobil Australia, the parent company of Esso.

From the fiscal years 2013/14 through 2015/16, ExxonMobil Australia reported zero corporate income tax payments despite generating $24.7 billion in revenue. The company asserts it has fulfilled its obligations by contributing $12 billion in petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) since this tax was introduced in 1990.

Executives from ExxonMobil were scheduled to provide testimony before the Australian Parliament's Senate Inquiry on Corporate Tax Avoidance in early 2018.

See also

• Esso Australia Collection of Australian Art