“Even if oil gets to $200/barrel, the independent producers are going to be disciplined.”
Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield exchanged hundreds of texts with OPEC officials about pricing and output, according to the FTC. He said out loud that US shale was “really under OPEC control.” The FTC’s answer was to let the $60 billion Exxon-Pioneer merger through and keep Sheffield off the board. The 27% figure rests on a rough guess, but the texts are not a guess. Price-fixing on this scale earns a board seat ban.