US Democrats urge antitrust regulator to probe oil, gas mergers

Southwestern Energy Co

06/03/2024 21:41

WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - Nearly 50 Democrats in
the U.S. Congress on Wednesday urged the Federal Trade
Commission to probe oil and gas company deals and expand current
investigations to protect consumers and industry competition. 
    The industry went on a $250 billion buying spree in 2023,
taking advantage of companies' high stock prices to secure
lower-cost reserves. Exxon Mobil  XOM.N  Chevron Corp  CVX.N ,
and Occidental Petroleum  OXY.N  made acquisitions worth a total
of $135 billion in 2023.
    The trend has continued this year with deals such as
Chesapeake Energy  CHK.O  agreeing in January to buy
Southwestern Energy  SWN.N , a $7.4 billion deal that will make
it the largest independent U.S. natural gas producer.
    "If a small group of dominant firms is allowed to control
this industry, American consumers and industry competition will
only suffer," the Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer, and Representative Ro Khanna, wrote in a letter
to the FTC.
    "Therefore, we urge the FTC to extend its current
investigations, open inquiries into these new deals, and take
all appropriate actions to protect competition in this
industry."
    U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, asked about recent
mergers at an event held by Axios, said she was concerned about
monopolies because President Joe Biden is "obsessed about
bringing down prices" including for gasoline.
    But Granholm also expressed hope that mergers could
accelerate a trend by some large oil and gas companies to act on
climate and clean energy. 
    "Many of the majors, many of them not all ... have been
taking action on climate and clean energy and a lot of the folks
who are small level producers were not as interested, or didn't
have the resources to address (those issues) so I'm encouraged
that there seems to be a movement in this direction," Granholm
said.

 (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio;
Editing by David Gregorio)
 ((timothy.gardner@thomsonreuters.com; +1 202 380-8348 (Twitter
@timogard); Reuters Messaging:
timothy.gardner.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))