A missile strike targeted a storage tank at the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, one of the largest in the region, forcing production to stop and causing power outages, joint operator Dana Gas said on Thursday.
But there was no immediate claim of responsibility, and authorities did not say who was behind the attack, which left no casualties and took place late Wednesday. Supplying gas fields for regional electricity generation, the attack did not affect oil production or exports, Reuters reported.
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The attack was the most significant since a series of drone attacks in July that hit oil fields and cut production in the region by about 150,000 barrels a day.
US interests
Attacks on the oil fields of Iraqi Kurdistan are recurring and often lead to supply disruptions, with local officials citing Iranian-backed militias working against US interests in the region as the likely source.
“How many attacks must happen before the US government simply allows the KRG to purchase kinetic anti-drone equipment to defend our skies and critical infrastructure?” Aziz Ahmad, deputy chief of staff to Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said in a post on X after the attack.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) administers northern Iraq with some autonomy, an area where US firms hold significant energy investments.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani spoke to Barzani by phone and condemned the attack as “an attack on all of Iraq”. They agreed to form a joint investigative committee to identify those responsible.
The attack hit a liquid storage facility at the Khor Mor facility, UAE-based Dana Gas said in a stock exchange filing. The tank is part of new facilities partly funded by the US and built by an American contractor, an industry source said.
The new equipment was installed as part of the KM250 project, which increased the field’s production capacity by 50%, Dana Gas and its affiliate Crescent Petroleum said in October.
Power outages
Firefighters managed to put out the blaze in the early hours of Thursday, an engineer working in the field told Reuters, but the shutdown of gas supplies has already caused major power outages across the northern region.
Kurdistan’s electricity production was expected to drop by 3,000 megawatts after the attack, Kurdish Electricity Ministry spokesman Omed Ahmed said in a statement.
“There were no injuries to personnel,” Dana Gas said.
The field is operated by the Pearl Consortium – made up of Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum – and shares in Dana Gas fell 1.5% to 0.781 dirhams on Thursday after the incident.
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The Khor Mor factory has been the target of unauthorized Katyusha rocket fire and drone strikes several times in recent years. In one incident in April 2024, a drone strike killed four Yemeni workers.
Earlier this year, the Kurdistan region also saw a series of unauthorized drone strikes, largely targeting oil fields, AFP reported.
(With input from agencies)
