Shafaq News-Basra
Engineering,petroleum, and science graduates began an open-ended sit-in outside the BasraOil Company on Sunday, sealing all gates to the state firm's headquarters andhalting access to the compound, according to a protest representative who spoketo Shafaq News.
The protestersclosed every entrance to the company's headquarters, the building locally knownas the Ziggurat, and said the blockade would remain in place until theirdemands- the release of Oil Ministry contracts at Iraq's profit-making stateoil companies to absorb unemployed graduates, are met.
Basra OilCompany is Iraq's largest state producer, responsible for the southern oilfields that generate the bulk of the country's crude output and, with it, mostfederal revenue.
Protestrepresentative Hassan al-Shawi told Shafaq News the graduates had met Iraq'soil minister roughly three weeks earlier to present their case but had receivedno response from the ministry. That meeting, by its timing, would have beenwith Bassim Mohammed Khudair, confirmed as oil minister in May 2026 under PrimeMinister Ali al-Zaidi's government.
At issue is thegraduates' call to be hired under Iraq's Federal Financial Management Law of2019, the legislation governing public revenue and spending, which al-Shawisaid permits profit-making state companies to contract staff directly. He tiedthat authority to a measure he identified as "Decision 315," urgingthe ministry to move quickly to open ministerial contracts for graduates ofengineering, petroleum, and science disciplines.
"We metthe oil minister three weeks ago to raise our demands, but we saw no responsefrom the ministry, so we decided to begin an open sit-in and close all thegates of the Basra Oil Company until our demands are met," al-Shawi said.
The action isthe latest in a protest movement that has recurred outside the company for morethan a year, led by graduates in petroleum-related fields who say repeatedappeals to authorities have gone unanswered. Basra, Iraq's southern oil hub,produces about 70-80% of the nation's crude yet reports some of the highestpoverty and unemployment.
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