OPEC Backlash Brews as U.S. Lawmakers Eye 1890 Law as Club
- Bill has advanced but failed several times over past decades
- NOPEC is ‘a nuclear weapon with a huge and uncertain impact’
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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Some U.S. lawmakers are seizing on the energy price surge to revive long-standing legislation that would subject the OPEC oil cartel to the same antitrust laws used more than century ago to break up Standard Oil’s monopoly.
The “No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act” -- known as NOPEC -- would allow the U.S. government to sue members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries for manipulating the energy market, potentially seeking billions of dollars in reparations.