ExxonMobil Australia

ExxonMobil Australia

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Oil and gas
Predecessor	Esso Australia
Founded	1933
Headquarters	Melbourne , Australia
Products	Oil and gas platforms, gas processing plants, retail fuel sales (Mobil brand)
Parent	ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil Australia, previously known as Esso Australia, serves as the Australian branch of ExxonMobil. It operates oil and gas platforms located in the Bass Strait near Melbourne, in addition to managing gas processing plants at Longford and Long Island Point (LIP) in Hastings.

The company also oversees retail fuel sales under the Mobil brand. Prior to the 1999 merger of Exxon and Mobil, Esso Australia managed petrol stations for 63 years until 1990, when Mobil took over these operations.

History

Between 1933 and 1962, Esso was under the ownership of Stanvac or Standard Oil, with the Esso trademark officially registered in 1937. After 1962, the Australian operations were rebranded as Esso Standard Oil (Australia) Pty Ltd.

On 25 September 1998, the Esso Longford gas explosion resulted in two fatalities and eight injuries. As Victoria’s principal natural gas supplier, Esso encountered significant operational disruption that impacted hundreds of thousands of households for a duration of 20 days. A Royal Commission assigned responsibility to Esso, culminating in a jury finding of 11 breaches of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and a penalty of $2 million.

Following the global merger of Esso and Mobil in November 1999, their Australian subsidiaries united to form ExxonMobil Australia. This new entity inherited both the Adelaide and Altona refineries; however, the Adelaide refinery was shut down in 2003 and subsequently demolished in 2009.

In November 2012, ExxonMobil Australia experienced an incident involving a crude oil spill at its Longford site.

Projects

Esso is progressing with plans to establish a Gas Conditioning Plant adjacent to its existing Longford facilities. This project, undertaken jointly with BHP Billiton, aims to extract carbon dioxide from natural gas, thereby improving processing efficiency and capacity.

Industrial disputes

The Longford plant and offshore Bass Strait operations have been subject to extended industrial disputes concerning outsourced maintenance personnel. Up until 2017, roles such as scaffolders, electricians, boilermakers, and fitters were employed by contractor UGL in collaboration with KAEFER Integrated Services.

In 2017, UGL was awarded the contract exclusively and proposed re-employing the workforce under diminished wages and conditions through a new enterprise agreement via its subsidiary MTCT Services. Although this agreement was submitted to the Fair Work Commission in late 2016, it was reportedly approved by a small contingent of casual workers outside Victoria, raising questions about its legitimacy.

Unions contend that the agreement was not negotiated with the Victorian workforce, which contradicts ExxonMobil’s global stance on collective bargaining rights. The majority of impacted workers at Longford rejected UGL’s offer and have engaged in protests since June 2017. Throughout the dispute, Esso and union representatives have publicly exchanged criticisms. In July, Esso petitioned for the removal of protest symbols including an inflatable rat and signage branding replacement workers as 'scabs'.

Corporate tax avoidance

In November 2017, employees affected by wage reductions at Esso contractor UGL traveled to Canberra to bring attention to ExxonMobil Australia’s parent company tax practices.

From fiscal years 2013/14 through 2015/16, ExxonMobil Australia reported no corporate income tax payments despite generating $24.7 billion in revenue. ExxonMobil asserts it has contributed its 'fair share' by paying $12 billion in petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) since its implementation in 1990.

Executives from ExxonMobil were slated to appear before the Australian Parliament’s Senate Inquiry into Corporate Tax Avoidance in early 2018.

See also

• Esso Australia Collection of Australian Art