Foreign oil firms including giants BP and TotalEnergies evacuated some foreign staff from southern Iraq amid regional tensions, the state-owned Basra Oil Company said Monday.
"Firms operating in the fields of the Basra Oil Company have temporarily evacuated some of their foreign personnel," the company said in a statement.
It added that operations were not affected in the southern province of Basra, which produces most of Iraq's crude oil.
The evacuations are due to the "security situation" in the region, an official from the company told AFP.
British energy giant BP, which is one of the biggest foreign players in Iraq's oil sector, evacuated staff from the huge Rumaila field.
The evacuation "has not affected" production since Iraqi staff are handling operations in coordination "remotely" with the British firm, Basra Oil Company said.
The Italian firm ENI "has gradually reduced its staff from 260 to 98 employees", while France's TotalEnergies "evacuated 60 percent of its personnel in anticipation of an emergency", the Iraqi company said.
Russian oil giant Lukoil and Chinese companies have not evacuated their staff.
ENI said in a statement that it reduced its personnel in the Zubair oil field in southern Iraq "as a precautionary measure".
The firm added that it is monitoring the situation across the Middle East.
Iraq is a founding member of the OPEC cartel, and its crude oil sales make up 90 percent of Iraq's budget revenues.
Since the start of the Iran-Israel war last week, fears have grown that the violence could spread to Iraq, where US troops are deployed as part of an anti-jihadist coalition and Iran supports several armed groups.
After the US attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities on Sunday, an Iranian official warned that bases in the region used in the attacks "will be considered legitimate targets".
Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq had also threatened Washington's interests in the region if it were to join Israel in its war against Iran.
Iraq, which has for years been navigating a delicate balancing act between its allies Tehran and Washington, has long been a fertile ground for proxy battles.
AFP
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