Lawrence G. Rawl
Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:26 pm
Lawrence G. Rawl
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - Lawrence G. Rawl, a petroleum engineer who rose to become chairman and chief executive of Exxon Corp. and led the company's response to criticism after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, died Sunday, the company said on Monday. He was 76.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma in 1952, Rawl joined Humble Oil & Refining Co., a predecessor to Exxon, as a drilling engineer in South Texas. Over the next 28 years, he earned a series of promotions and moved between Houston, New York and London assignments.
Rawl joined the company's New York office in 1980 as a senior vice president and director.
In 1985, he was named president, and two years later, he was elected chairman and chief executive.
He increased the company's energy reserves, partly by focusing on expanding production in Africa, and expanded the chemical operations. He also moved the company's headquarters from New York to Irving, Texas.
The major event of Rawl's tenure was the 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, which spilled millions of gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska.
Critics said the company was slow to react and missed a chance to contain the spill before it fouled hundreds of miles of shoreline and turned into a public-relations disaster for the company.
The cleanup lasted through 1992, when the federal government and Alaska declared it complete. Exxon, which spent more than $3 billion on the cleanup and related costs, said the spill prompted many safety improvements.
Exxon Mobil is still appealing a $5 billion verdict reached by a federal jury in 1994.
Rawl retired in 1993.
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