Bipartisan Group Of US Lawmakers Reintroduce "NOPEC" Bill

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) have reintroduced the "No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act," or NOPEC.

• The bill, which would authorise the Justice Department to bring lawsuits against OPEC members for antitrust violations, has been introduced into Congress numerous times since the year 2000 but never passed into law.
• Congressional support may stronger this time around considering lawmakers and members of the Biden Administration have accused OPEC+ of manipulating oil markets to benefit Russia.
• Grassley: “We’ve seen time and again how OPEC has colluded to set global oil prices, bringing uncertainty and high prices to consumers around the globe."
• Klobuchar said: “...current law has made the Justice Department powerless to stop the 13 largest oil producing countries from manipulating prices and driving up costs. This bipartisan legislation would allow U.S. antitrust laws to be enforced against these oil producers.”
• Durbin said: “Big Oil repeatedly puts profits ahead of consumers, like last year’s OPEC+ decision to dramatically cut oil production in alliance with Vladimir Putin amid his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine."