Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest energy company by market value, will extend benefits to same-sex spouses of U.S. employees after federal government agencies altered their definitions of legal marriages.

“Exxon Mobil will recognize all legal marriages for the purposes of elgibility in U.S. benefit plans to ensure consistency for employees across the country,” Alan Jeffers, a spokesman for the Irving, Texas-based company, said in an e-mailed statement today.

Exxon’s benefits programs cover 77,000 employees in the U.S., Jeffers said.