Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and other Democratic senators are asking the Justice Department to investigate alleged collusion and price fixing in the oil industry. 

The request came in a letter sent Thursday to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, who heads the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

Three other Senate Democrats — Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Maria Cantwell of Washington and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — joined Mr. Schumer in signing the letter. 

The letter references evidence uncovered by the Federal Trade Commission during its investigation of ExxonMobil’s proposed acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources that found Scott Sheffield, the founder and former CEO of Pioneer, colluded with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce oil and gas output, driving up prices at the pump to inflate profits for his company.

“The federal government must use every tool to prevent and prosecute collusion and price fixing that may have increased gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and jet fuel costs in a way that has materially harmed virtually every American household and business,” Mr. Schumer and his colleagues wrote. 

The alleged collusion also presents a national security concern, the Senate Democrats argued, because it “may have served to enrich countries like Iran and Russia that are actively seeking to undermine the United States and our allies.”

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.