Drone Attack Halts Production at Iraq's Khor Mor Gas Field, Run by UAE's Dana Gas

An engineer working at the field told Reuters that a gas storage facility had been hit and that all crew had been ordered into shelters for fear of further strikes. No group had claimed responsibility by Sunday evening, and the operators had not issued a statement on damage or on when output might resume.

Khor Mor is one of the largest gas fields in the Kurdistan region and supplies the power stations that generate much of its electricity, so any lengthy stoppage tends to show up quickly as power cuts. It is developed by Sharjah-based Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum, Dana Gas's largest shareholder, which makes the field one of the most exposed Gulf-owned energy assets in Iraq.

The field has been repeatedly disrupted during the US-Iran conflict. In July, Dana Gas temporarily suspended operations, citing "credible security threats", and Baghdad warned at the time that the disruption could cut up to 1,400 megawatts of electricity generation, according to The National.

The UAE companies have been expanding the field's role beyond Kurdistan. Their KM250 expansion, completed last October, raised Khor Mor's production capacity by 50% to 750 million standard cubic feet a day. In August the partners began delivering gas to the Kirkuk Taza power station, run by Iraq's federal Ministry of Electricity, under a one-year agreement for 100 million standard cubic feet a day.

Sunday's strike came on the same day President Donald Trump said he was highly unlikely to order new strikes on Iran if talks with Tehran made progress. The size of the hit to Kurdistan's electricity supply, and to the federal supply contract, will depend on how long the field stays offline and how badly the storage facility was damaged.