U.S. lawmakers are pushing bills that aim to break up the cartel; charge it in front of the World Trade Organization; or even seize assets its members own in the U.S.
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Looming even larger in Congress, analysts and lobbyists said, is pending legislation called the No Oil Producing and Exporting Cartels Act, or NOPEC. Debated now for more than two decades but never passed, the bill would allow the Justice Department to sue members of OPEC for antitrust violations.
Current U.S. law prohibits sovereign governments from being sued without their consent. But under NOPEC, the Justice Department could sue OPEC members—national governments that own and control oil companies—for price fixing in U.S. courts under the Sherman Act, and then seize foreign-owned property in the U.S. to pay for any resulting damages.
