Drone attack halts production at Iraq’s Khor Mor gas field, cutting electricity supply

A drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field in northern Iraq on Sunday night halted production and gas supplies to power stations. According to statements by Iraqi and Kurdish officials, a fire broke out at the facility, while more than 70% of the Kurdistan Region experienced power cuts. The outage became a widespread loss of supply, also affecting businesses’ access to energy across the region.

Gas supplies to power stations in five cities halted

In a statement reported by Iraq’s official news agency INA, Omid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity, said gas deliveries to power stations in Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok had been cut off. According to Ahmed, the attack took between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of electricity generation off the grid.

Security sources cited in Baghdad said the drone, carrying explosives, struck the gas storage facility, reducing the electricity grid’s capacity by 70% to 80%. This figure refers to the loss of grid capacity, while officials’ separate statement that more than 70% of the region was left without electricity concerns the share of the area affected.

Alternative generation for critical facilities

Ahmed said hydroelectric power stations and other facilities operating on alternative fuels would be brought online to supply electricity to critical facilities such as hospitals and water treatment plants. No information was given on when gas supplies and production at the field would resume.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said initial assessments indicated there had been no deaths or injuries in the attack. Al-Zaidi ordered the formation of a joint investigative committee with the relevant authorities in the region to investigate the circumstances of the incident.

Responsibility for the attack has not yet been established. It is also unclear whether the incident was linked to the war being waged by the US and Israel against Iran. The same facility was targeted in a drone attack last year, for which no one claimed responsibility.