ExxonMobil in yet another 'messenger shooting' incident

Exxon subsidiary, Mobil Oil Australia is formally complaining to the Australian Press Council about an Adelaide newspaper article containing Greenpeace quotes. The news piece ran in the Adelaide Advertiser as Mobil was preparing to take its first delivery of naptha - a by-product of shale oil, one of the most greenhouse polluting fossil fuels on earth. Quoting Greenpeace, the article pointed out that shale oil produces almost four times as many greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil and has been listed as a carcinogen by the World Health Organisation. Mobil's reaction, predictably, was to focus on the messenger, rather than the message.

ExxonMobil seems to determined to make its 'business as usual' even dirtier by buying into the most greenhouse polluting fossil fuel in the world then appealing to the Australian Press Council to try and silence its critics.

Last month Mobil Australia signed a three year contract to buy naptha, a by-product of shale oil, from the Stuart Shale Oil Project. Shale oil is a fossil fuel alternative to conventional oil. Greenhouse gas emissions from its production are nearly four times higher than from normal oil. The production of shale oil also releases dangerous cancer causing chemicals.

It is hardly suprising that the company wants the Kyoto Protocol dead and buried if this is where it sees its future. Restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions would certainly effect this dirty little project.

An article in the Adelaide Advertiser heralding the arrival of the first shipment of naptha to Mobil's Port Stanvac Refinery, pointed out the polluting nature of shale oil. It also pointed out Mobil's responsibility to provide evidence to workers and the local community that refining shale oil is safe, quoting a Greenpeace source.

Predictably, Mobil immediately announced it was formally complaining to the Australian Press Council about the article. Once again, following Esso France's attempts to curb freedom of expression on the internet, it appears that the ExxonMobil 'family' would rather try to silence the messenger than focus on the message.

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