Drone strike on gas field cripples Kurdistan Region businesses

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Thousands of businesses across the Kurdistan Region have been crippled by the power outage caused by a drone attack on the Khor Mor gas field this week.

“We have been enduring since the electricity was cut two days ago,” said bakery owner Diyari Ibrahim. “Local generators haven’t been operating, so we’ve had to rely on small ones.”

The drone attack late on Wednesday night forced a complete shutdown of Khor Mor, which is one of northern Iraq’s most productive natural gas fields, fueling several power plants across the region.

The Region, which was providing round-the-clock power to more than six million people as part of its Runaki Project for the first time since gaining semi-autonomy from Baghdad in 1991, has faced rolling blackouts since the attack.

For years, privately run neighborhood generators supplemented the main grid’s supply. Just days before the attack, the government had called residential generator owners and cancelled their contracts as the Runaki Project was expanding coverage. Now, with the power out, some people are turning to small portable generators.

Shops selling refrigerated goods reported significant losses as outages dragged on.

“The markets have been affected the most because they have refrigerated items,” said shopkeeper Dara Dilshad.

Others said the disruption was jarring after months of reliable power.

“The electricity was really good before the terrorist attack,” said government employee Diyari Mardan. “Apparently, our enemies are upset that we launched round-the-clock electricity.”

The Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command called the attack a “cowardly” and “serious terrorist act” aimed at destabilizing the economy and disrupting essential services.

No group has claimed responsibility. The federal and regional interior ministries are investigating the attack and expect to have results within 72 hours.

The natural resources ministry said on Saturday that most of the issues at Khor Mor have been resolved, but officials have not given a timeline for full restoration of power.

[Source: Rûdaw English]