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The US Federal Trade Commission has set aside two Biden-era antitrust rulings, allowing John Hess and Scott Sheffield to join the boards of Chevron and ExxonMobil, reversing its previous stance on competition.
The agency on Thursday unanimously overturned a January ruling that prohibited Hess’s appointment to Chevron’s board over concerns that he had offered “supportive messaging” to Opec representatives to keep oil prices high. It said the FTC’s original complaint had failed to prove an antitrust violation.
A Chevron spokesperson said: “We are very pleased with the FTC’s unanimous decision. Mr Hess is a highly respected industry leader and our board would benefit from his global experience, relationships and expertise.”
Chevron still faces a potential hurdle to its acquisition of Hess. The company is locked in a dispute with ExxonMobil over oilfields in Guyana valued at $1tn, which regulators are still weighing as they consider approval of the merger. Chevron said last September that it would agree to keep Hess off its board in order to clear the way for the deal’s approval.
The move marks a departure from the regime of former chair Lina Khan and former president Joe Biden’s tougher antitrust policies. The January ruling took place shortly before Donald Trump’s second inauguration and was opposed by current chair Andrew Ferguson and commissioner Melissa Holyoak.
As well as blocking Hess’s appointment, in 2024 the FTC barred Sheffield, the former Pioneer Natural Resources chief executive, from joining ExxonMobil’s board as a condition of its acquisition, a ruling that was also set aside on Thursday.
The FTC was concerned Hess’s presence on Chevron’s board would increase “the likelihood that Chevron would align its production with OPEC’s output decisions to maintain higher prices.”
Hess denied the claims he colluded with Opec.
Chevron, the US’s second-biggest oil company, had planned on naming Hess to its board as part of the acquisition of his company, first announced in October 2023 during a flurry of oil and gas dealmaking.
Rival ExxonMobil has also obstructed the deal’s progress, objecting to Chevron’s gaining access to a 30 per cent stake in the Stabroek oilfield through the Hess acquisition, by arguing it has right of first refusal.
ExxonMobil launched arbitration proceedings in March 2024, pointing to the terms of a joint operating agreement with Hess and Cnooc, a Chinese oil and gas company. Cnooc has also filed a claim.
Stabroek has an estimated 11bn barrels of oil reserves. Its discovery allowed ExxonMobil to reclaim its position as the most valuable American oil company after being overtaken by Chevron in October 2020.
