The European Commission (EC) fined eight steel companies a total of 99 million euros after its probe into a cartel in the market for seamless steel tubes used in the oil and gas industries. The EC said the producers had colluded between 1990 and 1995 to restrict themselves to their domestic markets and not to Compete against each other, which it regarded as a serious breach European antitrust rules. The Commission said the cartel had been operated by European and Japanese firms, which are the largest seamless steel tube producers in the world, under the Code name "Europe-Japan Club."