A Khor Mor gas field drone attack halted production at one of the largest gas fields in Iraq’s Kurdistan region on Sunday night, cutting up to 2,800 megawatts of power generation and leaving more than 70 percent of the region without electricity. Iraqi officials said there were no casualties in the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility.
FAKTA
- A drone struck the Khor Mor gas field in Chamchamal district, Sulaymaniyah province, late on Sunday night, hitting an LPG storage tank and starting a fire.
- Production at the field was suspended, and employees were evacuated to shelters inside the facility.
- Between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of power generation was lost, leaving more than 70 percent of the Kurdistan region without electricity.
- Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said an initial assessment showed no casualties, and he ordered a joint investigation with the Kurdistan Region.
- No group has claimed responsibility, and it remains unclear who carried out the attack or whether it was connected to the wider US-Israel-Iran war.
Khor Mor Gas Field Drone Attack: What Happened
The attack took place at about 11pm local time on Sunday, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s ministries of natural resources and electricity, which described the strike as a “terrorist attack” in a joint statement. A Kurdish security source said an explosive-laden drone hit the field’s gas storage facility.
Two sources in the region’s electricity ministry said a single drone strike hit the LPG storage tank, causing a fire that was still raging hours later. Smoke was seen rising from the field, and footage showing smoke and flames near the facility in Sulaymaniyah governorate was verified by a fact-checking agency.
Employees at the field were evacuated to shelters inside the facility as a precaution against further attacks, the sources said.
Power Cuts Across Kurdistan
Omid Ahmed, a spokesman for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity, said the strike suspended gas supplies to power plants serving Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok. Between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of generation capacity was knocked off the grid, he said, reducing the region’s energy grid capacity by between 70 and 80 percent.
The region normally produces around four gigawatts of electricity, so the loss amounts to roughly two-thirds of its power supply. Hospitals and water treatment plants are being supplied through hydroelectric stations at the Dukan and Darbandikhan dams and power stations running on alternative fuels, to prevent a region-wide blackout.
The electricity ministry said the restoration of normal supplies depended on gas production resuming at Khor Mor.
No Claim of Responsibility
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Suspicion has fallen on Iran or its allied militias in Iraq, which have carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on the Kurdistan region since the war began, but that remains unconfirmed and officials have not named any party behind the strike.
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered a joint investigative committee involving the relevant authorities in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region to examine the circumstances of the attack, his office said early on Monday.
A Field Attacked Before
Khor Mor, operated by the Pearl Petroleum consortium that includes Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, produces about 750 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, most of it feeding power stations in the Kurdistan region.
The field has been hit repeatedly by rocket and drone attacks. A drone strike in April 2024 killed four Yemeni workers at the site. Dana Gas shut down the field’s main production facilities in July over credible security threats and regional tensions before restarting production later the same month.
Regional Context
The strike comes as Iraq faces growing pressure from the wider regional conflict. Iraq has been among the countries most affected by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping continues to face attacks, and Baghdad has been striving to balance its ties with neighbouring Iran and the United States amid the military escalation between the two countries. Read more: US Widens Iran Blockade to Land Routes as Hormuz Tensions Escalate
