Iraq slams evacuation of Exxon Mobil foreign staff as 'political' move | DW |

Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban criticized Exxon Mobil's evacuation of its foreign staff from the West Qurna 1 oilfield as "unacceptable and unjustified."

"The withdrawal of multiple employees -- despite their small number -- temporarily has nothing to with the security situation or threats in the oil fields in southern Iraq, but it's for political reasons," Ghadhban said in a statement in on Sunday.

Sources in the Iraqi oil industry and a senior Iraqi official said Saturday that Exxon Mobil, an American oil and gas corporation, had begun evacuating its entire foreign staff -- around 60 people -- from a major oilfield in the southern Iraqi province of Basra.

○ Protesters in Basra, Iraq, have torched nearly every government building | Vox - Sept. 8, 2018 |

'Sapere aude'