Shell evacuates foreign staff from Iraq's Basra Gas project - executives

Shell has evacuated its foreign staff, numbering around 60, from Iraq's Basra Gas Company and flew them out of Iraq on Wednesday, two Basra Gas Company executives told Reuters.

The staff were evacuated for security reasons after workers who had been laid off from work staged a protest in the Basra Gas Company headquarters and close to another company compound, two officials said.

Basrah Gas Company is a joint venture between state-owned South Gas Company, Shell and Mitsubishi.