Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

Several international companies working in Iraq’s oil sector have evacuated foreign personnel from the south of the country amid rising concerns about reduced security due to the US and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran.

Companies that have evacuated employees include the US-based service companies Halliburton, KBR and SLB, according to reports by local news services.

Iraq’s oil production has dropped by nearly 60% as closure of key export routes has forced the country to stop production at key fields.

Production currently stands at about 1.3 million barrels a day (b/d), down from around 3.3 million b/d before the outbreak of the war, according to Kazem Abdul Hassan Karim, the assistant director general at the department of fields and licensing affairs at the Iraqi Oil Ministry.

He also said that a drone attack involving two unmanned aircraft targeted the Burjesia oil area southwest of Basra Province and caused material damage to warehouses belonging to a foreign logistics services company.

The attack did not cause direct damage to oil facilities or production fields, according to Karim.

Authorities in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region also said on 6 March that production had been stopped at an oil field operated by HKN Energy in the Sarsang area of Duhok Province after a drone attack.

Amid growing concerns about disruption to oil production and exports due to the Iran war, global crude prices passed $100 a barrel for the first time in nearly four years.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped 26.3% to $117.08 a barrel on 7 March, the first time market prices have soared above the $100 threshold since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.