Senior Senate and House Democrats are combining their separate investigations into allegations of oil and gas industry price fixing.
It’s a move designed to increase the odds of getting results in the final weeks of the current Congress — and a preview of the scrutiny oil and gas companies can expect to receive if Democrats consolidate power across the federal government next year.
“It is more important than ever that Congress and the American people learn if additional U.S. oil companies are colluding with each other and foreign cartels to manipulate global oil markets and harm American consumers who then pay more at the pump,” wrote Senate Budget Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and House Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) to various companies.
The lawmakers launched probes this fall following the Federal Trade Commission’s findings that former Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield may have attempted to collude with OPEC countries and other oil companies to inflate crude prices.
