David Scott, Exxon’s senior vice president and head of the company’s shale operations, was arrested on sexual harassment allegations.
“We are aware of the allegations and cannot comment on a personal matter. However, we can say that this individual will not continue with his or her professional obligations as the investigation progresses,” Exxon spokeswoman Emily Mir was quoted as saying by Portal.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Scott, who has worked at Exxon for nearly 30 years, was charged with second-degree assault.
“All ExxonMobil employees, officers and directors are responsible for maintaining the highest standards of integrity and code of conduct in support of the company’s operations and otherwise,” Exxon said in a statement quoted by the FT, which also noted that “this person will not continue work duties”.
The news broke days after Exxon reportedly held takeover talks with shale company Pioneer Natural Resources. This would be the biggest deal for Exxon since its merger with Mobil in the 1990s and would make the supermajor the dominant producer in the Permian.
According to the reports, Pioneer has a market capitalization of around $50 billion. Exxon, for its part, has a market cap of $436 billion and has plenty of money to spend on industry consolidation after its record-breaking 2022. The Pioneer takeover, if it goes through, would add about 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to Exxon’s Permian shale reserves – among other operations for which Scott was responsible.
Consolidation has become the preferred method of growth for major players in the US shale space. There have been a number of big deals in the last two years, including Occidental’s acquisition of Anadarko for around $38 billion. Pioneer also grew through acquisitions, purchasing Parsley Energy for over $7 billion in 2020 and DoublePoint Energy for over $6 billion in 2021.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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