Drone strike halts Iraq's Khor Mor gas field, cutting power to more than 70% of Kurdistan region
Photo: Kurdish WeeklyA drone strike hit the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Sunday night, setting fire to an LPG storage tank and halting production — cutting power to more than 70 percent of the region, Iraqi and Kurdish officials said.
Two sources at the region's electricity ministry told Reuters that a single drone struck the LPG storage tank, starting a fire that was still raging hours later. Employees at the field were evacuated to shelters inside the facility, and security sources said smoke was seen rising from the site.
The strike suspended gas supplies to power plants in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok, said Omid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government's Ministry of Electricity. The ministry said about 2.8 gigawatts of generation was lost — between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts — reducing the grid's capacity by 70 to 80 percent. The ministry said it would keep electricity flowing to critical facilities, including hospitals and water treatment plants, by operating hydroelectric stations and plants running on alternative fuel.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said an initial assessment found no casualties and ordered a joint investigative committee with the Kurdish authorities. The region's natural resources and electricity ministries called the attack a "terrorist attack" in a joint statement. No group has claimed responsibility, and officials said it was not clear whether the attack was connected to the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
Khor Mor, operated by Pearl Petroleum — a consortium that includes UAE-based Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum — is one of the largest gas fields in the Kurdistan region and a key source of fuel for its power plants. Dana Gas shut the field's main production facilities in July over security threats and regional tensions before restarting production later that month. A similar drone strike hit the same facility last year, also with no claim of responsibility.
Sources: Reuters (via Devdiscourse), "Production suspended at Iraq's Khor Mor gas field after drone attack, sources say" (Nov. 9, 2026); Al Jazeera, "Drone attack suspends production at Iraq's Khor Mor gasfield" (Nov. 9, 2026). Event date verified: the drone strike took place on Sunday night, November 8, 2026, at the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq's Kurdistan region; Iraqi and Kurdish officials confirmed the production halt, the fire and the power outage the same night.
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