When Conoco­Phillips was battling to prevent a state takeover of its multibillion-dollar investments in Venezuela last month, why was one of its top executives talking to elementary school teachers about lightbulbs?

Jim Gallogly, head of refining and marketing, was conducting a day of questions and answers on recycling and other issues in Columbia, South Carolina. The third-biggest oil company in the US had sent him to a small city – where it has no operations – at this a critical time.