Trustbusters target poor man’s John D. Rockefeller
02/05/2024 17:26
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions
expressed are his own.)
By Robert Cyran
NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Today’s energy
producers wield far less clout than the industrialist’s Standard
Oil, whose breakup shaped US competition law. By comparison, the
FTC’s collusion case against Pioneer’s ex-CEO linked to the $65
bln Exxon deal is mostly symbolic. Robber barons lurk elsewhere
now.
Full view will be published shortly.
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CONTEXT NEWS
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on May 2 it had
cleared the way for energy producer Exxon Mobil to complete its
$65 billion acquisition of rival Pioneer Natural Resources, with
an accompanying consent order that prevents the seller’s former
CEO, Scott Sheffield, from joining the board of directors or
serving in an advisory role at the combined company.
The agency alleges that Sheffield, in both public statements
and private communications, “attempted to collude” with
representatives of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and a related bloc of oil-producing nations to curb
oil and gas output.
Sheffield’s appointment to the board also would be
anticompetitive because he is a director at natural gas supplier
The Williams Company, the FTC said.
(Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Pranav Kiran)
((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can
click on CYRAN/
robert.cyran@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
robert.cyran.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))