Iraq’s Khor Mor gas field, one of the largest energy sites in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), has resumed operations after being temporarily shut down following a rocket attack that struck a storage tank, operator Dana Gas confirmed.
The strike caused a halt in gas production and triggered widespread power outages across the northern region.
In a statement released on 27 November, Dana Gas reported that “a rocket struck a storage tank at the Khor Mor site, halting production and causing widespread power outages”.
The attack prompted an immediate shutdown of operations for safety assessments and incident response.
According to the Kurdish Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Electricity, gas supply resumed to key power plants at 2 a.m. local time on 30 November.
The ministry confirmed that operations were restored after emergency teams worked around the clock to repair the damage and stabilise supply to regional grids.
The Khor Mor gas field, located between Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk, supplies natural gas to power generation plants that provide electricity to millions of people in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The site is jointly operated by UAE-based Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum through the Pearl Petroleum consortium.
Recent expansions, including the KM250 gas project, were completed ahead of schedule, boosting processing capacity by 250 million cubic feet per day (mcf/d) to reach a total of 750 mcf/d.
Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, condemned the attacks and praised the company’s resilience.
“I have spoken with the company’s (Dana Gas) leadership to thank them and their workforce for their extraordinary resilience and determination amid 11 attacks on the Khor Mor field,” Barzani said.
The recent rocket assault was part of a worrying uptick in strikes targeting energy infrastructure in northern Iraq.
On 29 November, a separate attack in Erbil targeted fuel tanker trucks delivering liquid fuel to power plants, killing one person and injuring several others, according to the Kurdistan Region’s Interior Ministry.
The vehicles had been dispatched to compensate for the temporary loss of Khor Mor’s gas output.
The damaged storage tank at Khor Mor was among the new facilities partially financed by the United States as part of efforts to strengthen Iraq’s domestic energy reliability.
US companies and partners have invested heavily in the region’s energy infrastructure, with Khor Mor serving as a cornerstone for reducing dependence on imported fuel.
This latest assault follows a series of drone and rocket attacks in July that temporarily reduced output at Kurdistan’s oilfields by around 150,000 barrels per day, according to Reuters.
Security analysts have linked the attacks to escalating tensions between Iran-backed militias and Kurdish authorities.
Despite repeated disruptions, Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum remain committed to long-term investment in the region.
In October, the companies announced the early completion of the KM250 expansion — a milestone seen as vital to meeting rising electricity demand across northern Iraq.
KRG authorities have called for enhanced security cooperation with Baghdad and international partners to safeguard vital energy assets from further attacks, warning that continued strikes could jeopardise regional stability and energy security across Iraq.
