In Re: Shale Oil Antitrust Litigation

Berger Montague is Co-Lead Counsel representing a class of consumers of gasoline and other crude oil derivative products who allege that eight of the nation’s largest shale oil producers conspired to restrict production and inflate prices for consumers of gasoline and other crude oil derivative products.

Defendants are among the largest domestic shale oil producers, including Permian Resources Corp., f/k/a Centennial Resource Development, Expand Energy Corporation, f/k/a Chesapeake Energy Corporation, Continental Resources Inc., Diamondback Energy, Inc., EOG Resources, Inc., Hess Corporation, Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and Pioneer Natural Resources Company.  

On August 31, 2026, the Court largely denied Defendants’ motions to dismiss the Consolidated Class Action Complaint. In a Memorandum Opinion and Order, the Court rejected Defendants’ argument that the case is not justiciable, held that Plaintiffs adequately alleged an antitrust conspiracy to restrict oil production, and rejected Defendants’ challenges to Plaintiffs’ antitrust standing. As a result, 49 of the 54 counts in the complaint remain in whole or in part. The Court denied the individual motions to dismiss filed by Continental Resources, Diamondback Energy, EOG Resources, Permian Resources, and Occidental Petroleum.

Read more:

• Hess, Pioneer, Others Can’t Duck Shale Oil Price-Fix Claims, Law360 (September 2, 2026).
• U.S. Shale Producers Lose Bid to Kill Oil Price-Fixing Case, OilPrice.com (Sept. 1, 2026)
• Shale oil companies fail to dismiss US price-fixing case, MLex (Sept. 1, 2026)

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in the fields of complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played leading roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, DC, and Wilmington, DE.