Exxon Mobil's strange PR strategy

Reported in City AM today:

"Frustrated oil journalists tell me that Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, has come up with a rather unusual strategy for dealing with tricky media enquiries — simply not answering the phone. An unanswered call placed yesterday did nothing to quell the rumours. Exxon, take note: it takes more than ignoring phone calls to deter us pushy media types."

I wonder if this unfortunate example of poor media relations practice will actually lead to Exxon Mobil's PR team getting lots of practice in crisis communications?