Sierra Club Reaction to Pioneer Collusion with OPEC

Washington, DC - The Federal Trade Commission has uncovered efforts by former CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources Scott Sheffield to collude with OPEC in order to increase the price of oil through agreed up cuts in production. The conduct was discovered as part of an investigation into the $64 billion acquisition of Pioneer by Exxon Mobil, which FTC says it will not reject as long as Sheffield is not named to the board. 

The complaint by the FTC states Sheffield attempted to “pad Pioneer’s bottom line—as well as those of oil companies in OPEC and OPEC+ member states—at the expense of U.S. households and businesses.” 

One analysis of the impacts of this price-fixing scheme found that oil companies “may single-handedly be responsible for a little over a quarter of the total inflationary increase in 2021.” 

In reaction, Sierra Club Beyond Dirty Fuels Director Cathy Collentine issued the following statement: 

“I wish it was a surprise to hear that an oil company was colluding to harm consumers by artificially jacking up prices, yet it is just the latest dirty trick from the long playbook of deceit perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry. As laid bare by this week's Senate hearing about how oil companies covered up the truth about climate change, we know fossil fuel companies will do anything to make a buck. Simply disallowing one person from the board of Exxon will not solve the problem - we cannot continue to look the other way while oil and gas companies poison our environment, harm our health, and steal our money. Big Oil must be held accountable to pay their fair share instead of price gouging consumers. We must end the billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry.”