Unocal Case Study

Unocal, an American based oil company, provides complete oil field operations from agreements, extraction, refining, marketing and distribution. Unocal also owns a chain of Union 76 gas stations (Velasquez, 2012). In the 1990’s oil field extraction in the U.S. began to dry up and Unocal was in need of new investments. Unocal’s ability to take a project from start to finish made them favorites to foreign countries. Burma, governed by a military dictatorship, sat on a gas reserve called Yadana Field, which will provide 30 years of revenue for the country (Velasquez, 2012). In order to tap into this lucrative reservoir, Burma needed to develop some agreements with foreign counties and businesses. The overall project included drilling, and building

The United States of America has a defined moral standard of, “promoting freedom and democracy and protecting human rights around the world are central to U.S. foreign policy” (State, n.d.). However what moral standard does the United States hold when every audit of Burma proved the consistent human rights violations? If an individual commits a crime overseas against humanity, that said individual would be prosecuted for that crime in the courts and sentenced to prison. If a corporation is found negligent should they not be held to the same moral reasoning we hold ourselves as individuals? This an act of a corporation cooperating with evil. Each omitting its responsibility to protect human

This is described in the book as an obligation to ensure the safety and freedom of individuals from persecution and harm. However, in my opinion Unocal surmised, the Burmese Army was not causing harm and Unocal’s pipeline construction benefits outweighed the atrocities. The book states there are three elements of moral responsibility, causality, knowledge and freedom (Velasquez, 2012). If any one of those are missing one can separate themselves from the responsibility, as in the case with Unocal. The ignorance of the project in sake of greed seems to drive us beyond the element of control, ethical responsibility and reasoning to do what is right.
Another term that can be linked to the situation is utilitarianism, Unocal felt the benefits outweigh the cost of those affected. The cost-benefit-analysis calculations proved great economic benefits to all surrounding countries and lined Unocal, and military general’s pockets with millions of dollars. The concept of what is right and wrong was diminished by all parties involved in the name of profits and economic growth though more were impacted negatively than those who