WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, May 2 (Reuters) - The Federal Trade

Commission signaled on Thursday it was prepared to green light

Exxon Mobil's ( XOM ) $60 billion purchase of Pioneer Natural

Resources ( PXD ) on the condition Pioneer's former CEO will not

be allowed to join Exxon's board.

The FTC's consent order prevents former Pioneer Natural

Resources CEO Scott Sheffield from taking an offered

seat on Exxon Mobil's ( XOM ) board of directors to resolve antitrust

concerns about Exxon's bid to buy the top shale oil producer.

The consent order frees Exxon to formally close the deal on

Friday and allows it to focus on a dispute with rival Chevron ( CVX )

over its proposed acquisition of Hess Corp, which owns a

30% stake in a prized Exxon joint venture in Guyana.

"Mr. Sheffield's past conduct makes it crystal clear that he

should be nowhere near Exxon's boardroom," said Kyle Mach,

Deputy Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition.

The executive, widely considered the dean of the U.S.

shale business of his long tenure and blunt comments on the

industry, used his position "to align oil production across the

Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico with OPEC+," the FTC

claimed.

Pioneer said it was "surprised by the FTC's complaint"

but said it wanted the deal to close. Sheffield's comments on

the industry were "matters of public interest" and should not

disqualify him from a board seat, a spokesperson said.

Exxon said it will not add Sheffield to its board. It

learned of the collusion allegations during the antitrust

review, but the lengthy FTC investigation "raised no concerns

with our business practices," a spokesperson said.

The acquisition will make Exxon the largest oil and gas

producer in the top U.S. shale basin, doubling its output there

to more than 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day

(boepd).

SHALE - OPEC TALKS

Sheffield was among the shale executives who last year

attended near-annual dinners with OPEC members at a Houston

energy conference. The private get-togethers began late last

decade with invitations to Sheffield and others by OPEC's late

Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo.

OPEC had failed to halt U.S. shale's rapid market share

gains, and its members was surprised at how quickly U.S.

companies were able to recover after a punishing oil-price war

that spanned 2014 through 2016. The war ended when OPEC curbed

its production and prices rebounded.

CERAWeek dinner attendees, which at times included shale

executives John Hess, Vicki Hollub, Rick Muncrief, and Domenic

Dell'Osso would discuss the oil market, global demand and oil

shareholders' expectation for returns, officials said at the

time.

Sheffield told Reuters during a March 2023 interview on OPEC

de facto leader Saudi Armaco's interest in developing its

domestic shale reserves that his company twice hosted officials

and explained the company's operations and business practices.

"We had a show-and-tell. We've done it twice now," he told

Reuters at the CERAWeek energy conference last year. "They can

get the same information from most service companies. But they

like to talk to producers...we have so much data."

The visit included discussions with Sheffield and the

company's executive VP of operations on how they complete, or

prepare wells for production, and how it drilled the long,

horizontal laterals to extract more oil from shale, he said.

Pioneer said on Thursday Sheffield had "neither the intent

nor an effect of his communications to circumvent the laws and

principles protecting market competition."