A Chevron refinery in Richmond, Calif. Chevron, the United States’ second-largest oil and gas producer, has a long history of investing heavily in Washington influence. The defendants include Exxon Mobile Corporation, the world’s biggest oil company, Chevron Corporation, Phillips 66 Company, Occidental Petroleum, and a number of smaller oil companies.
This led to what the complaint characterizes as “a worldwide price war” and as a result, “prices for oil and gasoline began to drop precipitously.” The complaint says that after talking to API and the oil companies, President Trump’s attitude toward the falling gas prices “changed dramatically,” and at the request of the defendants he began to lobby to stop the price war.
On April 9, 2020, OPEC and Russia announced an end to the price war and an agreement to cut production. The complaint quotes the CEO of API saying that “strong U.S. diplomacy” had helped to stabilize world oil markets. The complaint asserts that the defendants violated the antitrust laws by conspiring to fix oil prices and eliminate or suppress competition. In addition to damages and injunctive relief, plaintiffs ask the court to split Exxon, Chevron, and Phillips into smaller companies so that they do not have the power to control prices or engage in other anti-competitive behavior.