January 24, 2022
“What does a foreign corporation do if it’s activities are threatened by a local conflict? One option is call in the army? Western oil companies have done that in places like Nigeria, Columbia, and elsewhere. But, when those local troops Injure or Kill Civilians, Who Bears the Blame? This Is the Central Question in an Upcoming Trial in U.S. Federal Court. It pits local villagers against the globes biggest energy company.
ExxonMobil Called it “The Jewel in the Company’s Crown,” A site in Aceh, Indonesia that in 1999 was extracting lots of liquid gas. So much that, for a while, ExxonMobil was the most profitable company on earth. But, that lucrative site was sitting in a conflict zone. . . . Back in 1999, there was a fierce local rebellion. Separatists were demanding a cut of that Exxon gas money. They started attacking the sites. So the corporation paid Indonesian troops to protect its crown jewel. Cohen Milstein’s Agnieszka Fryszman discusses the Plaintiffs’ allegations of the ExxonMobil-Villagers of Aceh, Indonesia Litigation, a civil lawsuit, that spans 20 years before the U.S. District of Columbia and is about to go to trial, as early as this spring.
Tune in. The ExxonMobil-Villagers of Aceh, Indonesia Litigation story is a part of “Biden considers NATO troop reinforcement amid Russia-Ukraine standoff,” and starts at 7:58.