A drone strike on the Khor Mor gas field in Sulaimani’s Chamchamal district, operated by the UAE-based Dana Gas, on Friday killed four Yemeni nationals and injured several others who were repairing a condensate storage tank damaged by a previous attack.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Electricity Minister Kamal Mohammad Salih on Thursday told reporters that providing aerial protection of the Khor Mor gas field is the responsibility of Baghdad.
“The KRG has not failed to provide ground protection, but when it comes to aerial protection, that is the responsibility of the federal government,” Salih said.
However, the Iraqi oil minister said it is not their responsibility to protect the field.
“Khor Mor is under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government and it is their responsibility to protect it,” he told reporters in Baghdad on Thursday.
Khor Mor in Chamchamal frequently comes under attack, reportedly by Iran-affiliated Iraqi militias taking advantage of its strategic and economic importance for the Kurdistan Region, leading to major power disruptions across the Region and hindering expansion projects at the site.
Khor Mor field produces 452 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, according to Dana Gas. The strike affected power generation, causing long hours of blackout in the Kurdistan Region.
Kurdish oil exports
Ghani said on Thursday that the Iraqi government and the KRG have not reached any agreements to resume the Region’s oil exports, citing disputes over the financial entitlements of the oil companies.
“There has not yet been an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government on handing over the oil produced in the Region to the federal oil ministry,” the minister said, adding that there are “differences regarding contracts signed with the international companies.”
Oil exports from the Kurdistan Region through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline have been halted since March 23, 2023 after a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, saying the latter had breached a 1973 agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
“One of the main reasons for the pause in exports is the refusal of the foreign companies working in the Kurdistan Region to officially hand over their production to the Regional Government to be exported in accordance with the in-force federal budget law,” Iraqi oil ministry said in March.
Ghani explained on Thursday that two joint Baghdad-Erbil committees have been formed to resolve the contract situation between Erbil and the international oil companies (IOCs) as they are production-sharing contracts - agreements he said are incompatible with the Iraqi constitution.
The committees will meet next week to work towards resuming the flow of oil, he added.
Before the halt, around 400,000 barrels a day were being exported by Erbil through Ankara, in addition to some 75,000 barrels of Kirkuk’s oil.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani visited the US in mid-April, meeting with US President Joe Biden. The resumption of Kurdistan Region’s oil exports was one of the topics discussed.
Sudani and Biden “affirmed the importance of ensuring Iraqi oil can reach international markets and expressed their desire to reopen the Iraq-Turkiye Pipeline,” according to a joint statement between the two leaders following their meeting.
