Reuters - Exxon Mobil�s decision to evacuate its foreign staff from the West Qurna 1 oilfield in southern Iraq on Saturday was �unacceptable and unjustified�, Iraq�s Oil Minister Thamer Ghadhban said on Sunday.

�The withdrawal of multiple employees - despite their small number - temporarily has nothing to do with the security situation or threats in the oilfields in of southern Iraq, but it�s for political reasons,� Ghadhban said in a statement.

Exxon Mobil, which has a long term contract to improve the oilfield on behalf of Iraq�s state South Oil Company, withdrew all foreign staff, around 60 people, Iraqi officials have said.

The evacuation came just days after the United States withdrew non-essential staff from its embassy in Baghdad, out of apparent concern about perceived threats from Iran, which has close ties to Iraqi Shi�ite militia.

Ghadhban said he sent a letter to Exxon Mobil asking for the company to immediately return to work at the southern oilfield, ahead of a meeting with company executives later this week.

Production at the oilfield was not affected by the evacuation and work was continuing normally, overseen by Iraqi engineers, the chief of Iraq�s state-owned South Oil Company which owns the oil field, Ihsan Abdul Jabbar said on Saturday. He added that production remains at 440,000 barrels per day (bpd).


Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Peter Graff and Louise Heavens