International Energy Agency: Plan To Provide Legal Defenses to Participating U.S. Oil Companies

In response to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Justice's (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) efforts to: (1) expand antitrust and breach-of-contract defenses to protect U.S. oil companies from possible legal suits for participating in the International Energy Agency's (IEA) Emergency Oil Sharing System (ESS); and (2) resolve the problem of foreign blockage of information important to the U.S. government's antitrust review of oil transactions with U.S. oil companies' foreign affiliates.