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Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Oil, gas and coal operations · Canada · 2016–2021

ExxonMobil cut and restored Kearl oil-sands reserves as oil prices moved

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 3 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

ExxonMobil removed Canada's Kearl oil sands from its reported reserves after prices fell in 2016, then re-booked them when prices recovered. The bitumen in the ground did not change; the price used for reporting did.

What?
ExxonMobil removed the Kearl oil sands from its reported reserves when prices fell and re-booked them when prices rose, according to the sources reviewed. IndustryWeek / Bloomberg
Where?
Kearl oil sands, Alberta, Canada; US gas reserves from the XTO acquisition
When?
End-2016 removal; 2018 re-booking; end-2020 removal ExxonMobil / SEC
Who?
Gained
  • ExxonMobil — its reported reserves moved with the price rule; the company said the 2016 removal would not affect operations IndustryWeek / Bloomberg
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The sources reviewed tie the removals to the 12-month average price rule.
How?
Proved reserves are classed on a 12-month average price, so a lower price removes barrels from the total and a higher price restores them.
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

IndustryWeek, citing Bloomberg, reported in February 2017 that ExxonMobil had removed about 3.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 19 percent of its reserves and mostly Kearl, at the end of 2016. The company said the removal would not affect its operations.

ExxonMobil said in February 2019 that 3.6 billion barrels, including Kearl, had been proved again at higher prices, within a total addition of 4.5 billion barrels.

Its 2020 SEC filing shows 3.1 billion barrels of Kearl bitumen removed from reserves at the end of 2020.

Under an SEC rule effective from 31 December 2008, reserves are priced on the average of the first-day prices over the previous 12 months rather than the year-end price.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: 2.4 billion barrels of Kearl bitumen re-added in 2021 at the SEC price floor.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: ExxonMobil's US gas reserves from its XTO acquisition fell by 9 trillion cubic feet and were recognised again in 2021 at higher prices.
    • Insufficient Reported but not verified: total reserves fell from 22.4 billion barrels to 15.2 billion barrels in 2020.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: ✓ Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Company or project

    2. ExxonMobil Form 10-K 2020
      ExxonMobil / SEC · 2021

    Press and investigations

    1. Exxon caves to oil crash, historic global reserves cut
      IndustryWeek / Bloomberg · 2017-02-23

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Terms used on this page

    Institutions

    SEC
    The US Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates securities markets and what companies tell investors.
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