OIL-COMPANY PHILANTHROPY

International oil companies are facing difficult decisions about philanthropy as they operate in poor African nations, reports The Wall Street Journal. The corporations acknowledge that working in a poor nation requires them to provide money to build schools and meet other social needs, but they say locals sometimes expect too much of them and they worry about being too closely associated with the countries’ governments, which are often considered to be corrupt. “We are an oil company. We are not the Red Cross,” Andre Madec, director of Exxon Mobil Corporation’s global community relations, told the newspaper. (A paid subscription is required to view this article.)