U.S. President Joe Biden makes a statement about gasoline prices and oil company profits in the Roosevelt Room as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen listens at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 31, 2022. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photofor high energy prices taking their toll on consumers, but would struggle to thwart the top U.S. oil producer's contemplated $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural ResourcesU.S.
Andre Barlow, an antitrust attorney with Doyle, Barlow and Mazard PLLC, said oil and gas deals such as that for Pioneer, which involve production and exploration, are easier to defend under antitrust law. Political pressure was building on the FTC on Friday to investigate any agreement that Exxon and Pioneer reached.
"The modern U.S. experience is that oil and gas deals of any notable size get a close look. Gasoline prices are creeping up and that will make a difference," said William Kovacic, a former FTC chair who teaches at George Washington University's law school.$27 billion acquisition of Atlantic Richfield in 2000. It sued to block the merger and only agreed to drop its objections after BP offered to divest oil production acreage in Alaska.