* Shell temporarily evacuates staff
* Workers protest over delayed salaries
* Gas production is not affected
(Adds Shell spokesperson comments)
By Aref Mohammed
BASRA, Iraq, May 21 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell
evacuated some 60 foreign staff from Iraq's Basra Gas Company as
a security measure following a protest over delayed pay, company
officials said on Thursday, adding production was unaffected.
The staff were flown out of the country on Wednesday after
workers protested at the headquarters of Basra Gas Company
(BGC), a venture between state-owned South Gas Company, Shell
and Mitsubishi, to demand payment of their delayed
salaries, officials said.
"Shell confirms that as result of a security breach at the
accommodation camp of Basra Gas Company, we have temporarily
relocated Shell secondees," Shell said in emailed comments.
"All staff and contractors are safe and BGC production is
not impacted," Shell said.
It said the staff, evacuated for security reasons, would
work remotely and it did not anticipate any short-term impact on
production from the Basra Gas Company, which project officials
say is around 900 million standard cubic feet per day.
Shell said it was working with its Iraqi state partner to
solve the pay issue and hoped the evacuated staff could resume
work onsite as soon as possible.
Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, also
said they were seeking a quick solution to pay the delayed
salaries and that the gas project, overseen by Iraqi engineers,
was functioning normally.
"Shell's evacuation is a precautionary and temporary measure
and its foreign staff will provide advice and perform their
duties remotely for now," a senior Basra Gas Company official
said.
Iraqi officials providing security at the Basra Gas Company
said Wednesday's protest, which was also close to a Shell
compound, was limited and under control.
Most energy companies in Iraq's south cut wages or laid off
workers to cut costs after oil prices fell because of the
coronavirus crisis. In April, benchmark Brent crude fell
to its lowest levels in more than 20 years.
(Reporting by Aref Mohammed; Writing by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing
by Edmund Blair and Barbara Lewis)
