Senate Probes Possibility of Collusion Between Big Oil and OPEC

Oil pumping jacks, also known as "nodding donkeys", in an oilfield near Neftekamsk, in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. The flaring coronavirus outbreak will be a key issue for OPEC+ when it meets at the end of the month to decide on whether to delay a planned easing of cuts early next year.

(Bloomberg) -- A US Senate committee is investigating whether oil producers are illegally coordinating with OPEC to raise prices, following allegations that the former head of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. colluded with the cartel.

The probe is being led by Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, an industry foe. He has requested documents from 18 oil companies — including Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC, and Chevron Corp. — on grounds that evidence suggests the oil and gas industry may be trying to depress production.

“I am concerned about the possibility that oil and gas companies could be engaging in collusive, anti-competitive activities with OPEC+ that would raise crude oil prices, resulting in higher costs not only for American families,” Whitehouse wrote in letters to the companies, made public Thursday.

The documents sought by Whitehouse include communications among company officials and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries related to oil production and prices, from January 2020 to the present. Representatives of BP, Chevron and Exxon did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

The probe comes after the Federal Trade Commission, as part of its review of Exxon’s $60 billion takeover of Pioneer, said it found evidence Pioneer’s former head, Scott Sheffield, sought to communicate with OPEC and US peers about oil pricing and output. The FTC referred the matter for a potential criminal investigation. Sheffield denies the allegations.

A spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute dismissed the new probe as “yet another election-year stunt.”

“The reality is that US producers have increased production to record levels despite a growing list of inflationary policies that hurt consumers and threaten to cede our energy advantage to nations hostile to US interests,” Bethany Williams, a spokeswoman for the trade group, said in an email.

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