A few months ago, Iraq's interim oil minister considered how to stop oil smuggling, which was causing severe gasoline shortages.

Two years ago, the General Accounting Office estimated that oil smuggling had generated nearly $900 million a year for Iraq.

These efforts at controlling production, intended to protect both the independent operators and the major producers, were largely unsuccessful at first and led to widespread oil smuggling.

The Iraqi government said the operation that began 25 March targeted criminals who had been carrying out indiscriminate attacks, burglaries and oil smuggling.

As far as oil smuggling is concerned, the diplomats say, the operation clearly benefits both countries.

In some ways, the pattern of the corruption now plaguing Iraq was set by Saddam Hussein, who began encouraging oil smuggling and graft during the 1990's.

Currently he's paying us for new weapons out of his oil smuggling, and if he uses our SAM's to bring down American gunships, that's not my fault.

Most notably, Higgins was the only ship in the CGS-1 to conduct a boarding of a tanker suspected of oil smuggling.

Financial Times, 13 January 2005, "US ignored warning on Iraqi oil smuggling"

Recently a Greek tanker was involved a dispute over crude oil smuggling.