Drone Strike Halts Khor Mor Gas Field in Iraqi Kurdistan, Cutting 2.8 Gigawatts of Power

A drone hit the Khor Mor gas field in northern Iraq on Sunday evening, Nov. 8, stopped production and plunged most of the Kurdistan region into a power crisis. No group has claimed responsibility.

Two sources in the Kurdistan electricity ministry said a single drone struck the field's LPG storage tank and set off a fire that was still burning. Two security sources said smoke was rising from the site in the Chamchamal district of Sulaimaniyah province. Al Jazeera's fact-checking unit Sanad verified footage of smoke and flames near the field.

Field employees were moved into shelters inside the facility, the ministry sources said.

The power loss

The Kurdistan electricity ministry said about 2.8 gigawatts of generation was lost. Ministry spokesperson Omid Ahmed put the figure at 2,500 to 2,800 megawatts. He said the gas cutoff hit power plants serving Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok.

Security sources told Al Jazeera the grid's capacity dropped by 70 to 80 percent. Al Jazeera reported that more than 70 percent of the region was left without power.

Ahmed said the ministry would keep hospitals and water treatment plants running by operating hydroelectric stations and plants that burn alternative fuel.

Khor Mor's gas feeds regional power stations rather than export markets. That is why the damage lands on Kurdish households and businesses, not on global energy supply.

Casualties and the official response

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said an initial assessment found no casualties. His office said that, as commander-in-chief, he ordered a joint investigative committee with Kurdish regional authorities "to establish the circumstances of the heinous attack."

A joint statement from the Kurdistan natural resources and electricity ministries called it a "terrorist attack" and said the ministries were working to limit the impact.

Who did it is unknown

No one has claimed the strike, and no Iraqi or Kurdish official has named a culprit. Al Jazeera noted it was unclear whether the attack was tied to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

One claim has surfaced. The Hebrew-language Telegram channel News.co.il, citing unnamed Arab sources, said Iraqi Shiite militias launched the drone. That is a single anonymous account and nothing confirms it.

Khor Mor has been hit many times in recent years, including an attack in November 2025 that also halted production. Kurdish authorities have in the past blamed Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups for such strikes. During the current war, the region has been a frequent target of attacks by Iran or Iraqi armed groups, according to The Times of Israel.

Joint field operator Dana Gas shut the main production facilities in July over credible security threats and regional tensions, then restarted production later that month. The field is run through the Pearl Petroleum consortium, which includes Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum.

The wider backdrop

The strike came the same day President Donald Trump told reporters he considers new U.S. strikes on Iran "highly unlikely" as long as talks on ending the conflict keep progressing. He said he would act if Tehran moved its enriched uranium. Trump is due to meet Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Washington on Monday, Nov. 9, according to the White House.

Iraq is among the countries hit hardest by Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and traffic there remains disrupted. Baghdad is trying to balance relations with both Tehran and Washington. Iran has attacked Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq. Iran-backed militants in Iraq hit Gulf neighbors earlier in the war.

Iraq's foreign minister has also said the U.S. Treasury asked Baghdad to close all but two of its border crossings with Iran as part of a push to tighten economic pressure on Tehran.

What comes next

The fire at the storage tank was still burning when the first reports came out. Neither the Kurdistan ministries nor the field operators have said how long production will stay down or when full power will return.

The joint Baghdad-Erbil committee is the first test. Its findings on who launched the drone, and from where, will show whether this was an escalation tied to the Iran war or another strike in a pattern of attacks on the same field.