Rockets Hit Near Site of Foreign Oil Firms, State-Run Companies in Iraq's Basra - Reports

In late March, the US military deployed its Patriot missile defence system to the Ayn al-Asad base in Iraq in a move to "protect against another potential Iranian attack”.

Reuters on Monday reported, citing its sources, that missiles hit near sites of foreign and state-run oil companies in Basra, Iraq. No casualties have been reported so far.

According to police, the missiles were Katyushas launched at around 3 a.m. local time and hit the Burjesia residential and operations headquarters west of Basra.

At the same time, the Iraqi military stated that the rockets hit near US-based Halliburton company site.

The strike on oil facilities comes as earlier on Monday oil prices continued to fall after Russia and Saudi Arabia delayed negotiations over oil output cuts, thus continuing oversupply concerns.

Initially, the parties were scheduled to meet on 6 April but the talks were postponed until 9 April.

Oil prices suffered their worst decline in decades in March after Russia and Saudi Arabia failed to reach a deal on output cuts amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Russia proposed leaving output cuts at previously agreed-upon levels, while Saudi Arabia and its allies suggested that additional cuts be made.

Russia rejected the proposal, prompting Riyadh to cancel even the originally agreed upon cuts, to announce a 25 percent increase in production, and to offer heavy discounts on crude futures for April.