WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Herb Kohl introduced bipartisan legislation to permit the Department of Justice to bring actions against foreign states – such as members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – for collusive practices in setting the price or limiting the production of oil.  If enacted, Kohl's bipartisan No Oil Producing & Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act would prevent future price increases of gasoline that have become routine.  

"When the price of crude oil rises as a result of price fixing by OPEC, there is no doubt that millions of American consumers will feel the pinch every time they visit the gas pump," Kohl said.  

Kohl's NOPEC legislation makes it clear that OPEC's activities are not protected by sovereign immunity and that the federal courts should not decline to hear such a case based on the "act of state" doctrine.  It clears away these judicially created roadblocks so the Department of Justice could bring an antitrust case against OPEC for its price-fixing behavior.  

Since January 2009 the cost of crude oil has more than doubled, reaching today's level of $96 per barrel. Likewise, throughout 2009 and 2010, gasoline prices have increased to over $3 a gallon in January 2011, a price that has nearly doubled in little over two years. Recently, OPEC ministers indicated that they may decide against an increase in output in 2011, saying in the final days of 2010 that the world economy can tolerate a $100 per barrel price. It is clear that the global oil cartel remains a major force conspiring to raise oil prices to the detriment of American consumers. The actions of the OPEC cartel in recent years demonstrate the dangers it presents. On October 24, 2008, OPEC agreed to cut production by 1.5 million barrels a day, and less than two months later, on December 17, 2008, OPEC agreed to a further 2.2 million barrels a day production cut.  

"The most fundamental principle of a free market is that competitors cannot be permitted to conspire to limit supply or fix price.  There can be no free market without this foundation and we should not permit any nation to flout this fundamental principle," Kohl said.  

Co-sponsors of the bill include Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) , Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).