Drone attack halts Iraq's Khor Mor gas field, cutting power across the Kurdish region
A drone strike on the Khor Mor gas field stopped production and disrupted more than 70 percent of electricity supplies in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. No group has claimed the attack.
Abdul Moiz Qureshi · Newsroom Intern, Cohort 1
2 min read
A suspected drone attack on Iraq's Khor Mor gas field has stopped production and disrupted electricity across the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, Reuters reported.
The drone hit a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tank at the facility on Sunday, 8 November, starting a fire. The field's operator, UAE-based Dana Gas, said the fire had been put out and no employees were hurt, according to Reuters. Production remains suspended while the company assesses the damage.
Power cut across the region
Khor Mor, in the Chamchamal district of Sulaymaniyah province, is one of the largest gas fields in the Kurdistan Region and supplies gas to power stations across it.
The attack left more than 70 percent of the region without electricity, Al Jazeera reported. Al Jazeera's fact-checking unit, Sanad, verified footage of smoke and flames near the field.
Omid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Electricity, said gas supplies to power stations serving Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok had been cut, the Iraqi News Agency reported.
What it means for Iraq
The attack shows how much of the region's power depends on a single site: one strike was enough to cut electricity across most of the Kurdistan Region.
It also adds to concerns about whether Iraq can protect its energy facilities. Repeated attacks could discourage foreign investors and expose Baghdad's limited control over armed groups operating outside state authority, Al Jazeera reported.
No group has claimed responsibility, according to Reuters. Khor Mor has been hit several times since 2022, attacks Kurdish officials have previously blamed on Iran-linked militias.
Sources
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Abdul Moiz QureshiAbdul Moiz Qureshi is a graduate of Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, in Defence and Strategic Studies.
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