ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Production at Khor Mor gas field will restart within hours, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Saturday after reaching an agreement with Dana Gas that will restore power knocked out by a drone attack that halted gas flows and triggered widespread outages.
“We have agreed with Dana Gas to restart production in the next several hours to restore electricity,” Barzani said in a statement. “I have spoken with the company’s leadership to thank them and their workforce for their extraordinary resilience and determination amid eleven attacks on the Khor Mor field.”
The Kurdistan Region has experienced blackouts since Wednesday night, when a drone strike on the strategic gas field ignited a fire and caused an estimated 80 percent drop in power production, according to the electricity ministry. Khor Mor, located in the Chamchamal district of Sulaimani province, is operated by Pearl Petroleum, a consortium led by Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum.
A security source told Rudaw on Friday that Dana Gas is prepared to resume production at the field, but seeks “security assurances.”
The natural resources ministry said earlier on Saturday that most technical problems at the site have been resolved, but did not provide a timeline for full restoration of power.
Barzani thanked the public for their patience, calling the drone strike “an attack against every citizen,” and said the KRG is working with international partners to secure better protection for its energy infrastructure.
Khor Mor has been repeatedly targeted in attacks Kurdish authorities blame on Iran-backed Iraqi militias that operate outside Baghdad’s control.
“This incident cannot be allowed to pass without public accountability. It cannot become the norm,” Barzani said, adding that he has urged Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to take action against those responsible.
Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari, National Intelligence Service chief Hamid al-Shatri, and Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed visited Khor Mor on Friday. Their investigation is expected to present findings within 72 hours, the spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Sabah al-Numan, told Rudaw.
Earlier on Saturday, Abdulkhaliq Talaat, a former KRG representative to Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, told Rudaw that the attack was launched from an area southwest of the field that is under the control of Iraqi forces, including Turkmen units of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
He said no measures have been taken against perpetrators of previous attacks. “Most times, those groups are above the existing authority that does not have the ability to take procedures against people,” he added.
Previous investigations into attacks on the Kurdistan Region’s energy sector have not publicly identified the perpetrators. Erbil’s Interior Ministry on Thursday accused Baghdad of failing to act against the armed groups responsible and said federal inaction has emboldened militias to continue targeting key facilities.