(Adds comments from Malaysia on Petronas, paragraphs 9-12)
By Chen Aizhu
SINGAPORE, Jan 8 (Reuters) - China National Petroleum Corp
(CNPC), a top investor in Iraqi oil, has withdrawn about 20
employees from the West Qurna-1 field operated by U.S. major
Exxon Mobil because of tensions in the region, a company source
familiar with the matter said.
CNPC made the move on Sunday after last week's killing of
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq,
the Beijing-based source said, adding that the state firm has
kept staff in place at two other fields.
Tehran retaliated with missile attacks on U.S.-led forces in
Iraq on Wednesday, stoking fears of a wider war.
"CNPC pulled out its staff from West Qurna on Jan. 5,
following Exxon's direction as they are the operator, right
after the U.S. killing of Soleimani," the source said.
CNPC declined to comment on the matter. Exxon Mobil
did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Iraq is the second-largest oil producer in the Middle East
after Saudi Arabia, pumping at about 4.6 million barrels a day.
The deteriorating security situation poses a heightened risk to
foreign firms operating in its oil and gas sector.
CNPC had kept its staff of close to 60 at the Rumaila
oilfield, a joint venture with operator BP, as well as a
team of about 100 at the CNPC-operated Halfaya field, the
source, who was not authorised to talk to media, said.
"Teams at Rumaila and Halfaya update headquarters on the
securities situation on a daily basis. For now there's no plan
for evacuations," said the source, who declined to be named.
Malaysia's foreign minister said there were 162 Malaysians
in Iraq, the majority employees of state oil and gas company
Petronas, and that the government was monitoring the
situation.
"We have given instructions to nearby embassies to be
prepared for if there needs to be any evacuation," Saifuddin
Abdullah told reporters in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Petronas, formally Petroliam Nasional Bhd, did not respond
to requests for comment. It has been operating in Iraq since
2010 with ventures in three oilfields, its website shows.
It holds equity in the Halfaya and Badra oilfields and is
the operator of the Garraf oil field.
China's state-run CNOOC Ltd, which produces at the
Maysan oilfield in southeast Iraq, said it had no immediate
evacuation plan as it has already put in place a "very high"
level of security measures due to long-term security concerns.
A spokesman for state-run Korea Gas Corp, which
participates in development projects in Iraq such as the Zubair
oilfield and Mansuiya gas field, said it is monitoring the
situation and has maintained its staff of fewer than 10.
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu in Singapore, Muyu Xu and Shivani
Singh in Beijing; Jane Chung in Seoul; and Joseph Sipalan and
Liz Lee in Kuala Lumpur; Additional reporting by Shu Zhang in
Singapore; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Richard Pullin and
Alexander Smith)
BP (BP.)