Loading the player...
Information
Energy Industry Antitrust Enforcement: Trends and Practical Guidance
Original Program Date :
Length: 60 Minutes
Recent years have seen increased antitrust activity in the energy sectors, reflecting the Biden Administration’s “whole of government” approach to competition policy. The FTC and DOJ, as well as private plaintiffs, have scrutinized a range of industry activities, including M&A transactions, illegal information exchanges, JV governance, and potential collusion. Additional antitrust priorities relevant to oil & gas businesses include criminal enforcement, renewed interest in price gouging, and a focus on employment issues.
The panel brings the perspective of government enforcement, inside counsel, and private practice. The panel will address these issues affecting energy companies, provide practical guidance on compliance, and make predictions on enforcement in a new Administration.
Eleanor Callaway, Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
Eleanor Callaway is a staff attorney at the Federal Trade Commission in the Mergers III division, which specializes in energy-sector mergers. Before joining the FTC, Eleanor worked in private practice, counseling clients on antitrust issues and litigating FRAND patents in the Eastern District of Texas.
Rob Friedman, Exxon Mobil Corporation
Rob Friedman is Senior Counsel for Antitrust at ExxonMobil, where he advises the corporation’s business lines on antitrust and competition matters. He’s been with ExxonMobil for 10 years, and prior to joining, he worked in the FTC’s Bureau of Competition in Washington, DC for 14 years where he primarily investigated mergers and acquisitions in the oil and gas industry. He received his law degree from the University of Florida, and undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan.
Bruce McDonald, Jones Day
Bruce McDonald is partner at Jones Day in their Houston office. He represents energy, transportation, and telecommunications companies in antitrust government investigations and enforcement actions, merger reviews, and antitrust private litigation. He has worked extensively in related sectors, including petroleum and petrochemicals, oilfield services, electricity, aviation, satellite communications, defense, and media.
Bruce served as deputy assistant attorney general with the U.S. Department of Justice from 2003 to 2007, where he was responsible for civil merger and conduct investigations and enforcement. The Attorney General appointed Bruce to serve as DOJ’s representative on the Electric Energy Competition Task Force created by Congress in the Energy Policy Act. Bruce is past chair of the State Bar of Texas’ Antitrust & Business Litigation Section.
He previously served as chair of the ABA Antitrust Section’s Transportation & Energy Committee and chairman of the Houston Bar Association’s Antitrust Section. Bruce has testified before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and speaks and writes on antitrust law enforcement and policy. He graduated from The University of Texas School of Law and has taught antitrust and trade regulation as an adjunct professor at The University of Houston Law Center. He is ranked Band 1 by Chambers and was named in Lawdragon’s 2025 “500 Leading Litigators in America.” In 2019 and 2023 he was named Houston Antitrust Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers. He is editor of PLI’s 2020 Antitrust Law Answer Book.
