Agree with your view of the typical American oil company. They represent very well those who are willing to put their money and labor at risk to bring products of value to the market essential to our economy.
Except——I haven’t bought a gallon of Exon since it IMO screwed the taxpayers with the Alaska oil spill several years ago.
I believed the ultimate cost it bore was nothing more than a slap on the wrist——after it no doubt cashed in many political IOU’s and made many political donations.
And, it should be noted here its management did not have the guts to render an executive decision on the issue, but rather put it up for a vote by its shareholders (although it may have been required to do so by law or policy).
Exon may have concluded it was between a rock and a hard place...being the Muslim world in which it does business and the in-your-face homosexual movement in the USA, both of which the DOJ seems to want to go out of its way to protect.