Opponents ofOPEC-style oil quotas in Texas insinuated that some drillers are supporting such restrictions for selfish reasons such as voiding contractual obligations.

Without naming specific companies or executives, Enterprise Products Partners Co-CEO Jim Teague suggested at a statehearing Tuesday that advocates of mandatory output cuts may be just asking for a government order that will allow them to negate contracts. Marathon Oil Corp.’s Lee Tillman voiced similar concerns.

Their remarks came during aTexas Railroad Commission hearing on whether the state should restrict crude output for the first time in roughly 50 years. The debate arising from this year’s 65% collapse in oil prices has deeply divided an industry already grappling with a global oversupply, escalating financial losses and the demand-killing Covid-19 outbreak.

A state order to curtail oil output would presumably provide drillers with justification to declare force majeure, the so-called “act of God” provision in contracts that relieves a party of liability for events outside their control.

The hearing began with executives from the biggest pro-quota companies:Pioneer Natural Resources Co. andParsley Energy Inc. Chief executives from both firms urged the commission to cap production or risk deep and long-lasting damage to the industry and economy.

“Are they really trying to fix a problem?” Teague asked more than two hours into the marathon hearing. Oil explorers ensnared by the sudden slump in oil prices still must honor contracts with pipeline networks, storage operators and hard-hat contractors that drill and frack their wells.

In-State Fields

Pioneer didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. CEO Scott Sheffield in a Friday interview said it’s “ridiculous” to suggest his company needs the cuts to survive, especially given its low level of debt and large hedging position.

Parsley supports quotas because they will soften “the blow to the U.S. oil and gas industry, saving oil and gas jobs, supporting our national security, and perpetuating the Texas miracle,” CEO Matt Gallagher said in an email.

Marathon’s Tillman warned that Texas caps would be unfair to companies that also drill in other states because it could force them to curtail output at fields that are more profitable than other parts of their portfolio. Pioneer and Parsley are focused almost exclusively on Texas drilling.

“When a vocal minority takes a position in favor of artificial market manipulation, that is so far removed from the consensus of a vast majority of operators, one can only surmise that their motives and objectives are primarily company-specific, as opposed to broadly industry-supported,” Tillman said during the hearing.

Pioneer’s Sheffield told the three-person panel that oversees Texas’s oil industry that mandatory cuts are needed to prevent large swathes of U.S. shale from going under. They could also be used as leverage to squeeze additional curbs from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the Group of 20 nations.

Free Market

Tillman and a bevy of anti-quota executive argued that such market intervention would create a dangerous precedent that would undermine the entire industry.

“The best solution to our current crisis is to get the world healthy and back to work while not abandoning the free market principles that have created U.S. energy independence,” Tillman said.

Sheffield has been the leading voice advocating for state-imposed cuts, even as the biggest players in the sector — Exxon Mobil Corp. andChevron Corp. — staunchly oppose the proposal. Still, the fact that the idea is even on the table in a state that prides itself on self reliance and unhindered trade is a measure of the swift and startling plunge in oil prices.

At current prices, 80% of the U.S. shale industry will go bankrupt, Sheffield estimated. Oil-storage capacity across the country will be full in a matter of weeks, and that will create a backup effect that will force drillers to shut wells, he said.

OPEC+

The OPEC+ agreement this past weekend to cut 9.7 million barrels of daily output won’t make a notable impact on prices given the stark impact the Covid-19 contagion is having on energy demand, Sheffield argued.

Texas should start with a 20% cut, which would amount to more than 1 million barrels a day, he said. Parsley’s Gallagher agreed.

“If we slam into a train wreck at full speed at a peak rate that we can predict, then it’s going to be much worse,” Gallagher said.

The commission wasn’t scheduled to vote on the proposed quotas on Tuesday and no date had been formally set.

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