Production at Drone-Hit Kurdistan Gas Field Set to Resume

By Charles Kennedy - May 01, 2024

Production at the Khor Mor field in Kurdistan is set to resume less than a week after a drone attack suspended operations at the site, killing four.

An official from the company that distributes the gas produced at Khor Mor told local news publication Rudaw that production will resume at midnight today, adding that the companies involved in the field’s operation had taken steps to ensure safety.

Four Yemeni workers lost their lives, and two others sustained injuries in the drone attack on the Khor Mor field in Kurdistan last week.

The ramifications of the assault extend beyond casualties, impacting electricity generation in the region. Kurdistan's electricity ministry stated that the drone attack disrupted gas supplies to power plants, leading to an approximate 2,500 MW reduction in electricity output.

Pearl Petroleum—a consortium comprised of Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum (operators of the Kurdistan Gas Project), along with OMV, MOL, and RWE holds the rights to develop Khor Mor and Chemchemal, two of Iraq's largest gas fields.

Emirati Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum each hold a 35% stake in the field, while the European companies each have a 10% stake in the project. Production from the Khor Mor field averages some 106,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily, about 1,000 metric tons of liquefied petroleum gas, and 15,000 barrels daily of gas condensates. The reserves of the field are estimated at some 7 trillion cu ft of natural gas.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Kurdish government accused an Iraqi group of staging it. The group is called Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, which is said to have ties with Iran.

"Good efforts have been made in the past to improve the energy sector and economic infrastructure in Iraq, especially in the Kurdistan Region, and while steps are being taken to resolve the disputed, evil and destructive hands once again targeted the Khor Mor gas field in a terrorist act. These repeated strikes must be stopped, and we urge the Iraqi government to find the perpetrators of this terrorist act and bring them to justice," the spokesman of the Kurdistan Regional Government said in the wake of the drone attack.