{"id":10011,"date":"2023-11-02T17:07:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-02T11:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/schumer-democrats-call-for-ftc-probe-of-exxon-chevron-acquisitions\/"},"modified":"2023-11-02T17:07:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-02T11:37:04","slug":"schumer-democrats-call-for-ftc-probe-of-exxon-chevron-acquisitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/schumer-democrats-call-for-ftc-probe-of-exxon-chevron-acquisitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Schumer, Democrats call for FTC probe of Exxon, Chevron acquisitions"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Heritage Foundation economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth discusses the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on U.S. oil prices and inflation on \u2018Varney & Co.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer<\/u>, D-N.Y., and 22 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking the regulator to investigate record-breaking deals by Chevron and ExxonMobil over concerns about the impact on competition in the energy sector.<\/p>\n

Schumer and the nearly two dozen Senate Democrats expressed concern over two pending mega deals involving the energy sector giants \u2014 Exxon\u2019s proposed acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources for $60 billion and Chevron\u2019s proposed purchase of Hess Corporation for $53 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“By allowing Exxon and Chevron<\/u> to further integrate their extensive operations into important oil-and-gas fields, these deals are likely to harm competition, risking increased consumer prices and reduced output throughout the United States,” Schumer and the Democratic senators wrote. “At the regional level, the deals threaten to harm small operators and suppress wages.”<\/p>\n

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR: OIL PRICES COULD SEE \u2018LARGE INCREASES\u2019 IF CONFLICT SPREADS, WORLD BANK WARNS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Chuck<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and 22 Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission calling for an antitrust investigation of recently announced acquisitions by ExxonMobil and Chevron.<\/span> (Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The letter blasted the large profits hauled in by the two energy firms in 2022, when Exxon earned $56 billion in profits while Chevron posted $36.5 billion in profits. The Democratic senators went on to note that gas prices rose from $1.84 a gallon in April 2020 at the depth of the COVID pandemic when demand was at its weakest to $4.93 in June 2022 and remain “relatively high today at $3.84.” Although they didn\u2019t mention the impact of Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine on energy markets since the February 2022 invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Ticker<\/th>\nSecurity<\/th>\nLast<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\nChange %<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
CVX<\/td>\nCHEVRON CORP.<\/td>\n143.95<\/td>\n-1.74<\/td>\n-1.19%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
XOM<\/td>\nEXXON MOBIL CORP.<\/td>\n105.63<\/td>\n-0.22<\/td>\n-0.21%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

They echoed President Biden\u2019s call for the FTC to “investigate the oil industry<\/u> for price gouging since such surges cannot be explained away by increased production costs from the pandemic or inflation, especially in light of these firms\u2019 astronomical profits.”<\/p>\n

OIL SLIDE HITS EXXONMOBIL PROFITS<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Exxon<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n

ExxonMobil’s $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer would boost Exxon\u2019s foothold in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico.<\/span> (Carlos Javier Sanchez\/Bloomberg via Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Further, the Democrats\u2019 letter said the “proposed transactions would augment these corporations\u2019 outsized political power, further enabling them to spend millions on lobbyists to thwart climate legislation, litigation to slash environmental rules, and a coordinated campaign to mislead consumers and discredit climate science \u2014 all to protect their billions in profits.”<\/p>\n

The Democratic senators<\/u> went on to say the FTC taking action to promote competition would “prevent the fossil-fuel industry from further subverting our democratic processes.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also took issue with the energy industry\u2019s consolidation through a series of mergers and acquisitions<\/u> involving Exxon and Chevron in the 1990s and early 2000s, writing, “If anything, the FTC should be investigating the past anticompetitive mergers of Big Oil conglomerates like ExxonMobil and Chevron to determine whether these energy giants should be broken up once again.”<\/p>\n

CHEVRON\u2019S PROFIT SLUMPS, SHARES FALL<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
\"Chevron<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>\n
\n

Chevron’s $53 billion acquisition of Hess would give it access to the Stabroek block in Guyana as well as Hess\u2019 Bakken assets to broaden its portfolio.<\/span> (Mario Tama\/Getty Images \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The letter\u2019s signatories included Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee\u2019s antitrust panel, and antitrust hawk Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.<\/p>\n

Several prominent members of the Senate Democratic Caucus up for re-election in swing states in 2024 did not sign onto the letter, including senators Joe Manchin, D-W.V.; Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.; and Jon Tester, D-Mont.<\/p>\n

Chevron\u2019s purchase of Hess<\/u> is expected to close in early 2024 and has been unanimously approved by both companies\u2019 leadership boards pending regulatory approval. Chevron noted it would gain access to the Stabroek block in Guyana as well as Hess\u2019 Bakken assets to broaden its portfolio.<\/p>\n

ExxonMobil\u2019s acquisition of Pioneer<\/u> is also expected to close in the first half of 2024 and will boost Exxon\u2019s foothold in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico.<\/p>\n

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

“For all those concerned about competition, the fact that the two companies combined represent about 5% of U.S. oil production should set their mind at ease,” Exxon told FOX Business in a statement. “For all those who seek even greater U.S. energy independence and far lower emissions, this merger represents nothing but upside for our economy and our environment given that ExxonMobil has the resources to get more out of the ground and do it at vastly improved emissions levels.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chevron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

FOX Business’s Stephen Sorace and Reuters contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[ad_1] Heritage Foundation economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth discusses the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on U.S. oil prices and inflation on \u2018Varney & Co.\u2019 Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and 22 Democratic senators sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking the regulator to investigate record-breaking deals by Chevron and ExxonMobil over concerns …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}