Saudi regulator fines three oilfield services companies SR5 million each

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: Saudi Arabia’s general authority for competition (GAC) has fined three oilfield services companies SR5 million each, for practicing collusion in public security competitions, the authority said on its Twitter account.

The authority added it had received a complaint from the Ministry of Interior’s Public Security Department stating that a number of oilfield services companies had violated the competition rules by conspiring to work together to gain an unfair market advantage against public security.

The authority explained that after gathering evidence and information and after conducting the necessary investigations, it became clear that the companies violated the competition laws, by colluding to work together to gain an unfair market advantage against the public security department.

The authority continued that the Committee for Adjudication of Competition Law Violations issued its decision to fine the three companies and publish the decisions after proving the violation of paragraph 7 of Article 4 of the Competition Law. The Administrative Appeals Court upheld the committee’s decision to impose the prescribed penalties, so that the ruling becomes final, the authority said.

Collusion is a non-competitive, secret, and sometimes illegal agreement between rivals, which attempts to disrupt the market's equilibrium. It involves people or companies, which would typically compete against one another, but who conspire to work together to gain an unfair market advantage, according to legal sources.