Senator is the sponsor of bipartisan legislation to punish anticompetitive oil cartels

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Herb Kohl today questioned the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, about rising oil prices during a hearing in the Senate Banking Committee.  Chairman Bernanke testified before the committee, on which Kohl serves, as part of an oversight hearing on monetary policy.  Kohl raised long-standing concerns about the anti-competitive price-fixing practices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil cartel.

“First, Chairman Bernanke, we all agree that the rising price of oil will slow the economic recovery.  To me one of the most anti-competitive forces in the world which raises the price of oil are the price fixing activities of the twelve member nations of the OPEC oil cartel,” Kohl said. 

Kohl is the sponsor of bipartisan legislation to permit the Department of Justice to bring actions against foreign states – such as members of OPEC – for collusive practices in setting the price or limiting theproduction of oil.  The bill passed the Senate four years ago with 70 votes. If enacted, Kohl’s No Oil Producing & Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) Act would help prevent future price increases of gasoline that have become routine.

Earlier this year Kohl pointed to OPEC ministers indicating that they may decide against an increase in oil 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 and the country’s economic recovery.