Missiles target American oil company in Iraq

BASRA - The Iraqi army said that three missiles fell Monday near the site of the American Halliburton Oil Services Company in Basra, southern Iraq, without causing any casualties.

They added in a statement that a bomber was found near the site with 11 missiles intended for launch and that security forces dismantled them.

According to other police sources, the rockets landed near a neighbourhood inhabited by foreign workers in the Iraqi oil sector, and were launched at about 3am local time, landing near residential and administrative headquarters in the Al-Burjisiya neighbourhood, west of Basra, in southern Iraq.

The area includes foreign workers in the oil sector and offices of Iraqi and foreign oil companies, but it has been largely empty in recent weeks after almost all foreign workers were evacuated due to the outbreak of the coronavirus

Two officials from Basra Oil Company, which monitors oil operations in the south, said the attack did not affect production and export operations. Police sources said they found a rocket launcher and some unused missiles in a nearby agricultural area.

Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar, general manager of Basra Oil Company, said in a press statement that "the rate of export of crude oil is currently stabilising at a rate of 3 million and 400 thousand barrels per day."

Simultaneously, a statement from the Basra Petroleum Company stated that "four unidentified rockets landed at dawn today on the site surrounding our oil sites in the energy city of Al-Barjasiya", indicating that the launch sources were tracked by the security services in Basra.

Dozens of foreign oil companies operate in Basra, most notably American Exxon Mobil, Russian Lukoil, British BP, Malaysian Petronas, and service companies, most notably Halliburton and other Chinese and Asian firms.

No one claimed responsibility for the missile attack, and the police have said they have deployed additional forces to conduct searches in the area.

In the past, several American targets have been struck in Iraq, most of them military sites.  But pressure has increased since the killing of the Iranian Quds Force commander, Qassem Soleimani, and the deputy head of the Popular Mobilisation Committee, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad in January.

Washington has accused Iraqi factions loyal to Iran of being responsible.