next Image 1 of 2prev Image 2 of 2Employees of Energy giant ExxonMobil have begun evacuating from an oil field in the southern Iraqi province of Basra but work at the field is still ongoing, Iraqi officials said Saturday. An Iraqi oil official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said all those who are being evacuated are foreigners or Iraqis who hold additional national citizenships. An Iraqi security official confirmed that ExxonMobil's employees are evacuating the West Qurna 1 oil field in Basra province, adding that "the vast majority of the evacuees are Americans." State-run Iraqi News Agency said work at Qurna 1 oil field "is going on normally" and has not been affected by the evacuation of Exxon Mobil's employees. The head of the Basra Oil Co. Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar Ismail told INA the number of employees at the company is less than 70 adding that "they did not withdraw but decided to be in Dubai during this period and run the oil field remotely."

Source: Fox News May 18, 2019 14:15 UTC