This Letter Follows An Investigation By The Federal Trade Commission – That Senator Rosen Called For – Which Uncovered Evidence That Big Oil Colluded To Reduce Oil Availability, Raising Gas Prices & Inflating Company Profits
LAS VEGAS, NV – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined colleagues in a letter urging the Department of Justice to do everything in its power to investigate, prevent, and prosecute Big Oil price gouging that has raised gas prices at the pump. This letter follows a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation that Senator Rosen and colleagues called for to examine a Big Oil merger, uncovering price gouging by American oil executives and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) executives that resulted in higher energy costs for American families and businesses.
“From pre-pandemic times to current day, industry collusion may have contributed to the 49 percent decrease in the U.S. oil production growth rate,” wrote the Senators. “Pioneer’s and its co-conspirators’ collusion may have cost the average American household up to $500 per car in increased annual fuel costs – an unwelcome tax that is particularly burdensome for lower-income families. Meanwhile, Western oil majors collectively earned more than $300 billion in profits over the last two years, a surge that many market experts believe cannot be explained away by increased production costs from the pandemic or inflation.”
“These alleged offenses do not simply enrich corporations; hardworking Americans end up paying the price through higher costs for gas, fuel, and related consumer products,” they continued. “The DOJ must protect consumers, small businesses, and the public from petroleum-market collusion, and an important part of that mission means seeking full restitution and imposing all penalties supported by the facts and the law.”
The full text of the letter can be found HERE.
Senator Rosen has been leading the fight to lower costs of everyday goods for hardworking Nevadans. Earlier this year, she joined efforts to press the FTC to fully investigate and block all anti-competitive Big Oil mergers that could raise prices at the pump. She also announced that, at her urging, the FTC sued to block the Kroger-Albertsons grocery store mega merger because it could reduce competition and further raise grocery prices. She also introduced the Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation (HOME) Act to crack down on housing price gouging by corporate investors who are buying up stock and driving up home prices.
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