I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5279 
To improve competition in the oil and gas industry, to strengthen antitrust 
enforcement with regard to industry mergers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 3, 2006 
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 
BROWN of Ohio, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms. LEE, and 
Mr. HONDA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To improve competition in the oil and gas industry, to 
strengthen antitrust enforcement with regard to industry 
mergers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Oil and Gas Industry 
Antitrust Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON UNILATERAL WITHHOLDING. 
The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 28 as section 29; 
and 
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(2) by inserting after section 27 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 28. OIL AND NATURAL GAS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), it shall be unlawful for any person to refuse to sell, 
or to export or divert, existing supplies of petroleum, gaso-
line, or other fuel derived from petroleum, or natural gas 
with the primary intention of increasing prices or creating 
a shortage in a geographic market. 
‘‘(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining whether a 
person who has refused to sell, or exported or diverted, 
existing supplies of petroleum, gasoline, or other fuel de-
rived from petroleum or natural gas has done so with the 
intent of increasing prices or creating a shortage in a geo-
graphic market under subsection (a), the court shall con-
sider whether— 
‘‘(1) the cost of acquiring, producing, refining, 
processing, marketing, selling, or otherwise making 
such products available has increased; and 
‘‘(2) the price obtained from exporting or di-
verting existing supplies is greater than the price ob-
tained where the existing supplies are located or are 
intended to be shipped.’’. 
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF CLAYTON ACT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General and the 
Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission shall conduct 
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a study, including a review of the report submitted under 
section 4, regarding whether section 7 of the Clayton Act 
should be amended to modify how that section applies to 
persons engaged in the business of exploring for, pro-
ducing, refining, or otherwise processing, storing, mar-
keting, selling, or otherwise making available petroleum, 
gasoline or other fuel derived from petroleum, or natural 
gas. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 270 days after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General and the 
Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission shall submit 
a report to Congress regarding the findings of the study 
conducted under subsection (a), including recommenda-
tions and proposed legislation, if any. 
SEC. 4. STUDY BY THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OF-
FICE. 
(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered 
consent decree’’ means a consent decree— 
(1) to which either the Federal Trade Commis-
sion or the Department of Justice is a party; 
(2) that was entered by the district court not 
earlier than 10 years before the date of enactment 
of this Act; 
(3) that required divestitures; and 
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