Irish explorer suspends operations in Iraq and evacuates workers

Petroceltic International has suspended its Iraqi operations and begun to evacuate "non-essential personnel" from the region on safety grounds.

While the firm’s management said at its recent AGM in Dublin that it had no major concerns over safety at its operations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, a brief statement issued by the company yesterday indicated that it had changed its mind to some degree.

The Irish firm has assets in northern Africa — chiefly Algeria and Egypt — as well as in Italy and the Black Sea region.