Oil companies evacuated foreign employees from Iraq during the recent war with Iran.
Israel attacked Iran on June 13, and the war officially continued for 12 days, until US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on Tuesday.
The US carried out airstrikes on Iran on June 22, and Iran responded with a missile attack on a US base in Qatar on June 23. For oil companies that work in Iraq, there was concern that there may be spillover. Iran has numerous pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, and they have targeted the US in the past and also Westerners.
Shafaq News in Iraq reported on June 23 that “after denials, official confirmation emerges that oil companies have evacuated their employees from Basra fields.”
The report said that Basra Oil Company had announced that some oil companies operating in the fields had evacuated employees. Production continued with locals taking the place of the foreigners.
“The companies operating in the Basra Oil Company fields and contracted within the licensing rounds have temporarily evacuated some foreign cadres, especially the British company BP, which operates in the Rumaila field. There was no impact on the production process, as Iraqi cadres are carrying out the operations and monitoring completely in cooperation with the remote operator,” the report at Shafaq said.
Reuters also said that BP and “others” had pulled staff from Iraq. Yahoo Finance noted that Reuters reported that “oil majors BP, Eni, and TotalEnergies are evacuating foreign personnel from Iraqi oilfields amidst increasing regional tensions, according to the Basra Oil Company. Despite these precautionary measures, oil output from Iraq’s southern fields remains steady, with exports averaging 3.32 million barrels per day.”
According to the Shafaq report, the company ENI had reduced its workforce from 260 to 98.
“They are working normally in the field in cooperation with Iraqi personnel managing petroleum operations. As for the Chinese companies that manage the West Qurna 1, Siba, and Fayha fields, there has been no evacuation of Chinese personnel, and work is continuing smoothly,” the report said.
“Regarding Lukoil, there has been no impact or evacuation of foreign personnel from the field. Finally, Total evacuated 60% of its personnel in anticipation of any emergency, and petroleum operations have not been affected,” the report added.
Employees left via Basra's airport, drove to Kuwait
The National in the UAE said that employees left via Basra’s airport or drove to Kuwait. “Several international oil companies operating in southern Iraq have evacuated their foreign employees amid fears of an expansion of the war between Israel and neighboring Iran,” according to sources.
“The sources, some of whom are employees of the companies, added that workers started to leave straight after the first Israeli attack on June 13, but that they almost all left in recent days. They added that they left through Basra International Airport, the only airport operating in Iraq now, or by land to Kuwait,” The National added.
The report noted that Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian militia, had threatened to “resume attacks” on US forces in Iraq. In the evening of June 23, there was an explosion at Camp Taji, a large army base in Iraq. It was not clear if this was an attack on the base. Subsequent photos showed that a radar had been destroyed at the base.