Chesapeake and Continental Resources under probe by Democrats on US Senate committee

  • July 1, 2024

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Oklahoma City’s Continental Resources and Chesapeake Energy companies are among 18 oil and gas companies under investigation by Democrats on the US Senate Budget Committee.

The list of 18 domestic oil producers was released last week as the committee launched an investigation into what it called “suspected collusion” among the producers.

While the American Petroleum Institute called the probe an “election-year stunt,” a list provided by the Senate Committee showed a letter had been sent to Robert D. Lawler, President and Chief Executive Officer  of Continental Resources seeking information and documents concerning the company’s “communications with members of the Secretariat of—and national representatives of countries belonging to—the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)regarding oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and pricing of oil products.”
A similar letter was mailed to Chesapeake Energy’s President and CEO Domenic J. Dell’Osso, Jr.
“Dear Mr. Dell’Osso:
I write to seek information and documents concerning Chesapeake Energy Corporation’s communications with members of the Secretariat of—and national representatives of countries
belonging to—the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)regarding oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and pricing of oil products.”
The letters to the 18 energy companies were the result of recent events involving Pioneer Natural resources Company and its merger with ExxonMobil Corporation.
U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island sent the letters in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Committee on the Budget.
“Based on recent events involving Pioneer Natural Resources Company (Pioneer), soon to merge with ExxonMobil Corporation (Exxon), I am concerned about the possibility that oil and gas companies could be engaging in collusive, anti-competitive activities with OPEC+ that would raise crude oil prices, resulting in higher costs not only for American families, but also for the U.S. government when it acquires crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.”
The Democratic Senator further explained he is seeking to understand whether other oil producers operated in the U.S. “may also have been coordinating with OPEC an d OPEC+ representatives concerning oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and pricing of oil products.”
Below is the list of what Sen. Whitehouse and the committee Democrats are demanding from Continental Resources, as identified in the letter.

1. Communications—including but not limited to emails and email attachments, memoranda, meeting minutes, audio or video recordings, phone logs, and text messages on any messaging platform—between and among Continental Resources’s
corporate and affiliate officers and members of the OPEC Secretariat concerning oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and pricing of oil products, dating from January 1, 2020 through the present; and

2. Communications—including but not limited to emails and email attachments, memoranda, meeting minutes, audio or video recordings, phone logs, and text messages on any messaging platform—between and among Continental Resources’s
corporate and affiliate officers and national representatives of OPEC and/or OPEC+ countries and/or national oil companies in OPEC/OPEC+ countries concerning oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and
pricing of oil products, dating from January 1, 2020 through the present.

He asked Lawler and Continental to produce documents by no later than July 12, 2024.
A very similar list was demanded of Chesapeake Energy with the same deadline.
1. Communications—including but not limited to emails and email attachments, memoranda, meeting minutes, audio or video recordings, phone logs, and text messages on any messaging platform—between and among Chesapeake Energy
Corporation’s corporate and affiliate officers and members of the OPEC Secretariat concerning oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and pricing of oil products, dating from January 1, 2020 through the
present; and
2. Communications—including but not limited to emails and email attachments, memoranda, meeting minutes, audio or video recordings, phone logs, and text messages on any messaging platform—between and among Chesapeake Energy
Corporation’s corporate and affiliate officers and national representatives of OPEC and/or OPEC+ countries and/or national oil companies in OPEC/OPEC+ countries concerning oil production output, crude oil prices, and the relationship between the production and pricing of oil products, dating from January 1, 2020 through the present.
OK Energy Today reached out to both Chesapeake Energy and Continental Resources for comment but have yet to receive a response.

Below is a list of the energy companies targeted by the Democrats.

Click here to read the letter to APA Corporation.

Click here to read the letter to BP.

Click here to read the letter to Chesapeake Energy.

Click here to read the letter to Chevron.

Click here to read the letter to ConocoPhillips.

Click here to read the letter to Continental Resources.

Click here to read the letter to Crownquest.

Click here to read the letter to Diamondback Energy.

Click here to read the letter to Endeavor.

Click here to read the letter to EOG Resources.

Click here to read the letter to ExxonMobil.

Click here to read the letter to Hess.

Click here to read the letter to Marathon.

Click here to read the letter to Occidental.

Click here to read the letter to Ovintiv.

Click here to read the letter to Permian Resources.

Click here to read the letter to Shell.

Click here to read the letter to SM Energy.

Jerry Bohnen