Weaponising energy: Khor Mor attacks expose Iraq’s power struggles

This week, the Khor Mor gasfield in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was struck once again in a rocket attack. The explosion triggered an immediate shutdown of gas flows, which then translated into power cuts across the region. Cities dimmed, neighbourhoods fell silent, and millions of people were reminded, yet again, how fragile progress can be when energy is weaponised.

Khor Mor is no ordinary industrial site. It is the beating heart of the region’s power grid, supplying gas to roughly 80 per cent of Kurdistan’s gas flows to five power plants. It also allows the transfer of electricity to federal Iraq. And just a month-and-a-half ago, the field reached a milestone with the completion of the KM250 expansion project, which boosted the field’s output to 750 million standard cubic feet per day, a transformative increment meant to support 24-hour electricity for the first time in the region’s modern history. That progress now sits under fire – literally.

Dana Gas, a UAE-based company that operates the field, said that none of its employees were injured in the attack. However, a major condensate storage tank was hit by the missile, prompting a complete shutdown of production for damage assessment and safety checks. Regional authorities privately blamed Iranian-affiliated militia groups inside federal Iraq for the attack.

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In recent years, Khor Mor has been targeted repeatedly. At least nine attacks have struck the field since 2023, ranging from rockets to precision-guided drones. The deadliest was in April 2024, when a strike killed four workers and forced a prolonged shutdown.

Inside Iraq, theories behind this week’s attack echo the polarised reality of its politics. Some argue it is retaliation for Kurdish parties performing better than expected in recent Iraqi elections. Others believe the message behind these strikes is broader and strategic: Kurdistan must not reach energy independence, which could potentially mean that more electricity supplies in the future could be transferred to federal Iraq.

It is difficult to dismiss that second interpretation. Iran still supplies natural gas to Iraq despite Iraq’s own enormous hydrocarbon reserves, and Kurdish gas c