The Khor Mor field, a critical gas field operated by the UAE-based Dana Gas in Sulaimani’s Chamchamal district, was attacked on Thursday. A liquid storage tank was struck by a weaponized drone, causing a halt in gas production and a significant power outage in the Kurdistan Region.
“The project is directly related to people’s lives. When the Khor Mor field stopped [producing gas], the Kurdistan Region was able to provide one hour of electricity to the citizens,” Shakir Wajid Shakir, head of Dana Gas’ Iraq and Kurdistan Region branch, told Rudaw’s Nwenar Fatih. “Attacks on the field directly impact the lives of 6.5 million citizens in the Kurdistan Region.”
Crescent Petroleum and its affiliate, Dana Gas, struck an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in 2007 to develop the Region’s substantial gas resources. They also agreed to establish Kurdistan Gas City, a major new gas-utilization industrial complex to promote private sector investment. Dana Gas has developed its production capacity gradually to 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.
“The Kurdistan Gas City project has national security importance and is directly related to people’s lives,” Shakir said.
“Gas production in the Khor Mor field is the same as before Thursday’s attack and we are producing 500 million cubic feet of gas per day,” he added.
An expansion project currently in the works, known as KM250, is expected to increase the production of gas to 700 MMscf/d by April 2023. The project is supported by a 7-year $250 million financing agreement between Dana Gas and the US International Development Finance Cooperation.
However, security incidents such as the repeated targeting of Khor Mor by rocket attacks have disrupted the expansion project.
According to Shakir, Thursday’s strike had a more significant impact on their operations than previous occasions, but they were “able to solve the problem in less than 24 hours.”
“Because of previous attacks, we had prepared measures to prepare for any attack, so when this attack occurred, our teams immediately went to work and we were able to control the fire in a short time,” he said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Friday ordered the formation of an investigative committee to determine the circumstances behind the attack and punish the perpetrators.
Despite the security threats on the gas field and repeated attacks, reportedly by Iran-affiliated Iraqi militias, Dana Gas said in 2022 that they would be able to meet the Kurdistan Region’s full gas demands in about two years.