Top congressional Democrats are going after the oil industry again after federal regulators accused a second top executive of improper contacts with OPEC.
While Republicans accuse the Biden administration and its allies of making energy prices spike, Democrats have pointed to oil industry profits and alleged collusion. Now they have at least two high-profile cases to showcase.
The Federal Trade Commission on Monday accused Hess CEO John Hess of encouraging OPEC to draw down crude oil inventories to inflate global crude oil prices and barred him from the board of Chevron, which is acquiring Hess.
The agency this year made a similar accusation against former Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield and barred him from joining the board of Pioneer’s new owner, Exxon Mobil.
