Drone attack in Iraq's Basra targets housing compound of foreign oil companies

Fires broke out in offices and warehouses belonging to U.S. firms Halliburton and KBR after a drone attack in Iraq's Basra targeted a compound housing employees of foreign oil companies, security sources told Reuters on Friday (March 6).

Basra, Iraq's main oil hub in the south, hosts operations for numerous international energy companies including Halliburton, which provides oilfield services to the region's vast petroleum infrastructure. The city serves as a critical base for foreign firms working in Iraq's oil sector.

FILE PHOTO: A drone view of an Evergreen container ship docked at the port of Umm Qasr during nighttime operations in Basra, Iraq, March 5, 2026. REUTERS/Mohammed Aty

French ​oil major TotalEnergies evacuated ​its expatriate personnel from projects ⁠in Basra ​on Thursday (March 5), Iraqi oil sources ​said on Friday.

-Production: Maher Nazeh, Adib Satikin, Cooper Inveen/Reuters