Dozens of foreign staff of the Basra Gas Company (BGC) were sent from Basra to Rotterdam and London Wednesday afternoon, as payment disputes led to protests inside company facilities in southern Iraq, according to three company officials, an airport official, and flight records. The BGC is a joint venture of state-run South Gas Company (SGC), the majority shareholder, and Royal Dutch Shell and Mitsubishi, which own 44 and 5 percent, respectively.