U.S. Shale Producers Lose Bid to Kill Oil Price-Fixing Case

A federal judge has allowed antitrust lawsuits accusing some of the biggest U.S. shale producers of coordinating production cuts to keep oil and fuel prices higher to proceed. U.S. District Judge Matthew Garcia in New Mexico rejected efforts by Diamondback Energy, Occidental Petroleum and other producers to dismiss the consolidated litigation. The lawsuits, filed beginning in 2024, allege that producers restrained shale output and ultimately pushed up prices for crude oil, gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Garcia found the plaintiffs had plausibly…