Iraq's Khor Mor gas field halted after drone attack

A suspected drone ‌attack in Iraq has halted production at the Khor Mor gas field, one of the largest in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan ​region, joint operator Dana ⁠Gas said on Monday.

UAE-based Dana Gas said it was assessing the damage after extinguishing ‌a fire sparked by the attack ‌which occurred on Sunday. It said no staff were injured in the incident.

Two sources in the region's electricity ministry said a single drone strike hit an LPG storage tank, causing the fire. Smoke was seen rising from the field, two security sources added.

Employees ‌at the field were evacuated to shelters at the site, the ministry sources added.

The field has faced several drone attacks ⁠and disruptions to output since 2022 which Kurdish officials have blamed on Iran-linked militias.

There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack.

About 2.8 gigawatts of power generation was suspended due to the latest attack, the region's electricity ministry said in a statement. Witnesses said that caused a severe shortage of power as well as LPG cooking gas in key cities in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Investigating origin of attack

Preliminary information indicates the drone was launched from areas east of the city of Tuz ​Khurmatu, around 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Khor Mor, two Iraqi security sources with knowledge of the situation ‌said.

Smoke rises following a drone attack that two security sources say targeted Khor Mor gas field in Chamchamal district, Sulaymaniyah province, Iraq, on Sunday, in this still image obtained from social media video. Reuters

An ongoing investigation has so far ruled out the possibility that it originated in Iran, they said.

All the sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

In a joint statement, the region's natural resources and electricity ministries described the incident as a "terrorist attack" and ⁠said they were working to minimise its impact.

The Kurdistan Regional Government exercises autonomy in northern Iraq, where it maintains close ties with Washington, underpinned by significant US investments in its energy sector.

The federal government in Baghdad, a rare ally of both Washington and Tehran, ​has long sought ‌to balance ties with both.

That balancing act has been complicated by Iran-backed militants in Iraq, who targeted some of ‌Iraq's Gulf neighbours at the beginning of the Iran war.

Iran, in turn, has launched attacks against Iranian Kurdish opposition groups based in northern Iraq.

The field is one of two that comprise the Kurdistan Gas Project, established by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Pearl Petroleum ‌consortium.

In August, Dana ‌Gas and Crescent Petroleum began supplying gas from Khor Mor to ⁠Iraq's federal Ministry of Electricity, a deal which the KRG said was taken unilaterally and outside ‌of the contractual framework governing the project.

The companies denied that they had breached their contractual obligations and said they did not need its approval to sell the gas to Baghdad.

Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum ⁠each hold 35% stakes in Pearl while OMV, MOL and RWE each hold 10%.

Output at Khor Mor has ​topped 700,000 cubic feet per day this year versus 506,000 cf/d in 2025 after an expansion project, Dana Gas said in its annual report.

Reuters