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A prolonged Iraq crisis could fuel spending in Canada’s energy sector, boosting an already expansionary picture for the oil patch this year, according to global investment bank Barclays Bank Plc.

“The Iraq situation is potentially helpful not only to the U.S. but also to Canada,” Barclays Capital analyst James West told the Financial Post during a conference call Wednesday to launch a new report on global oil and gas spending this year. “It is the quickest market to put capital to work to as prices move up.”

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Exxon Mobil Corp. carried out a “major evacuation” from Iraq Wednesday, while BP Plc. shipped out 20% of its staff, according to a report from Thomson Reuters.

Some of the world’s major oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA and state-owned Asian companies from China and Russia operate in Iraq, which has been rocked by insurgents from the north of the country.

Brent crude oil prices shot up to US$114.5 per barrel amid fierce fighting over control of a major refinery at Baiji, north of Baghdad. Greater inroads by the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group could threaten southern oilfields run by oil majors which produced the bulk of Iraq’s 3.37 million barrels per day of production in May. Iraqi government officials insist the country’s oil infrastructure remains secure.