Saudi Arabia is investigating a smuggling operation that illegally exported discount-priced oil to Europe for more than 11 years, the Saudi newspaper Okaz reported on Saturday.
A number of unnamed companies had bought discounted oil under the guise of using it to produce chemicals domestically, but instead shipped it to unidentified destinations in Europe, the paper said. It is not clear how much oil had been smuggled out of the Red Sea industrial port of Yanbu.
A committee with representatives from the petroleum ministry, the interior ministry, Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, and three other bodies are investigating the case, Okaz said.
