F.T.C. Clears Chevron’s Purchase of Hess With Board Condition

The Federal Trade Commission said on Monday that it would let the oil giant Chevron acquire Hess but that the chief executive of Hess would not be allowed to join Chevron’s board because of how he communicated with leaders of OPEC.

The agency’s decision brings Chevron and Hess one step closer to completing a $53 billion tie-up announced last fall.

It is also the latest example of the F.T.C. taking issue with the conduct of U.S. oil and gas executives in recent years.

After oil prices rose in 2022, many independent oil producers agreed to join forces or sell themselves to larger rivals. That deal making has transformed the American shale patch, which once was the province of smaller companies. Increasingly, it is being dominated by the likes of Exxon Mobil and Chevron.

The F.T.C. has expressed growing concern about comments U.S. oil and gas executives have made in the years leading up to that boom, when prices weren’t as high, and profits weren’t as robust.

In this case, the F.T.C. called out the chief executive of Hess, John B. Hess, for praising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a foreign cartel that coordinates oil output in ways that would be illegal in the United States.