Iraq’s oil sector caught in crossfire between US, Iran
US-Iran tensions have hit Iraq's oil industry, with ExxonMobil announcing an evacuation of its staff in Iraq to Dubai.
ExxonMobil evacuated dozens of its non-Iraqi employees from Iraq on May 18. The evacuation follows a US State Department decision to withdraw its non-essential staff from the US Embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
The US oil company relocated its employees to Dubai, where they will continue their work related to the West Qurna-1 oil field in Basra. The company announced May 31 that it will begin returning its employees from June 2 after the Iraqi government promised to increase the security measures in the site.
Iraq was not happy with the evacuation. Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadhban described ExxonMobil's decision as unacceptable and unjustifiable in a May 19 press statement. He attributed the move to “political reasons,” stressing that the issue “has absolutely nothing to do with the security situation in the oil fields in southern Iraq.”
Yet Iraqi armed factions close to Iran are capable of causing instability in the oil industry whenever they please. These factions have even publicly threatened the Iraqi parliament speaker over his stance on the crisis between Iran and the United States, according to a May 25 interview with Iraqi parliamentarian Mohammad Karbouli.
