OREANDA-NEWS.   The head of Iraq's state-run South Oil Company Dhiya Jaffar said that Exxon Mobil has carried out a "major evacuation" of their staff and BP had evacuated 20 percent of its staff.

He said ENI , Schlumberger, Weatherford , and Baker Hughes had no plans to evacuate staff from Iraq following the lightning advance of Sunni militants through the country.

The companies, which are based in southern Iraq where the government is still in firm control, were not immediately available for comment.

"This message is not satisfactory for us. We are not convinced the work should not be done remotely. They should be here on the ground," Jaffar told Reuters.

"I assure the companies that the current developments in the country have not affected and will not affect in anyway the operations in the south," he said, adding that the export level for June will be 2.7 million barrels per day.