Oilfield services firms fined $1.3m for collusion

JEDDAH: Three oilfield services companies were fined $1.3 million each for colluding in public security competitions, the General Authority for Competition (GAC) announced.

The fined companies were named as NAFT, ldrees Petroleum and Transport Services Co., and Tas’helat Marketing Co. (Sahl).

In a statement on Twitter, the GAC said that it received a complaint from the Interior Ministry’s public security department about firms violating competition law by conspiring to gain an unfair market advantage in public tenders.

The decision was issued by the Committee for Adjudication of Competition Law Violations after investigations proved that the three companies violated paragraph 7 of Article 4 of Competition Law.

The law prohibits complicity or collusion in tenders or bids in government and non-government auctions, tenders and procurement in any form whatsoever, including those aiming to affect the normal prices for selling, buying or supplying commodities and services.

The Administrative Appeals Court upheld the committee’s decision to impose the prescribed penalties so that the ruling becomes final, the authority said.