- A drone strike hit the Khor Mor gas field, forcing an immediate shutdown.
- Supply to stations in Kurdistan stopped, causing power cuts.
- Officials expect a production drop of 3,000 MW after the attack.
A drone attack has led to the suspension of operations at the Khor Mor gas field, one of Iraqi Kurdistan’s largest gas fields, and caused major power outages in the northern region, field engineers and officials said Wednesday.
All gas supplies to power plants in the Kurdistan Region were cut off following the attack, the ministries of Natural Resources and Electricity said in a joint statement.
Widespread power outages affected large areas of the region, local authorities said.
A drop of 3,000 megawatts in electricity production is expected in Kurdistan after the attack, Kurdish Electricity Ministry spokesman Omed Ahmed said in a statement.
The strike, which affected storage tanks on the ground, sparked a fire and injured several workers, security sources said.
Firefighting crews were still working to contain the blaze, and a field engineer said damage to the main liquid gas storage depot would take two to three days to repair.
“A drone hit a key gas storage facility on the field, causing significant damage, and a fire continues to burn,” a worker told Reuters from the field shelter where staff had taken shelter for fear of further attacks.
Two videos published by Kurdish television channel Rudaw on X showed smoke billowing from the site and a partial power outage in the city of Erbil after the drone attack.
Teams from the two ministries and UAE energy company Dana Gas, one of the field’s operators, are on site to investigate the incident, they said in a joint statement.
The Pearl Consortium, which includes Dana Gas and its subsidiary Crescent Petroleum, owns the development rights to the Khor Mor field.
Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body tasked with disseminating security information, said the field was hit in a “treacherous terrorist” attack that set fire to a main storage tank but caused no casualties.
He said the strike would worsen electricity shortages in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah and that authorities would pursue those responsible.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
This is the second drone attack targeting the field in several days, with Iraqi Kurdish security forces opening fire on a drone to prevent it from reaching the field on Sunday evening.
