An explosive-laden drone attacked the Khor Mor gas field in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region on Sunday night, 8 November 2026, at about 11pm local time (20:00 GMT), halting production and cutting power across the region.
A single drone strike hit the field’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tank, starting a fire that was still raging when reported. Smoke was seen rising from the site, and all crew were ordered into shelters for fear of further attacks.
Production was suspended and the gas supply to the region’s power plants was halted. The region’s electricity ministry said about 2.8 gigawatts of power generation was lost, with generation expected to drop by 2,500-2,800 MW. Al Jazeera reported that more than 70% of the Kurdish region was left without power, with widespread outages.
Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, said the attack caused no casualties, based on an initial assessment.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. A security source told Rudaw that the attack was launched from the disputed town of Tuz Khurmatu, a claim that has not been independently confirmed.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s natural resources and electricity ministries issued a joint statement calling the attack a “terrorist attack” and said they were working to reduce the impact on the power grid.
Khor Mor, in Chamchamal district, Sulaimani province, is Iraq’s biggest gas facility. It is operated by the UAE firm Dana Gas through the Pearl Petroleum consortium, with Crescent Petroleum, and supplies most of Kurdistan’s power stations.
A drone strike on 26 November 2025 also set a storage tank on fire and halted supplies to power plants. Operator Dana Gas shut the field’s main production facilities in July 2026 over security threats and regional tensions before restarting production later that month.
Sources: Reuters and AFP via Arab News. The image used with this article is an illustrative photo of a gas facility at night and is not a photo of the actual attack.
