Following attack on Khor Mor plant
Iraqi ministry of oil to send ‘620 tons’ of LPG to Kurdistan region
ERBIL — The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Natural Resources announced today that the federal government has agreed to supply the Kurdistan Region with 620 tons of household gas daily from the Tajji and Nasiriyah depots until the Khor Mor gas plant resumes production, according to a statement published on the ministry’s Facebook account. This measure aims to alleviate some of the pressures caused by recent disruptions at the plant.
The Tajji gas depot is north of Baghdad and the Nasiriyah gas field is in Dhi Qar.
On April 26, a suicide drone attack struck the Khor Mor gas field in Sulaymaniyah’s Chamchamal district, killing four Yemeni workers and injuring three others. It caused a significant reduction in power supply, cutting 2,500 megawatts of electricity across the Kurdistan Region. However, the region managed to partially compensate by securing 1,600 megawatts from alternative sources.
This incident caused all seven units of Erbil’s gas-powered electricity plant to shut down temporarily. By April 29, 2024, a high-level source from the Ministry of Natural Resources expressed hope that gas production at Khor Mor would restart soon.
Kamal Mohammed Salih, the acting minister of natural resources, sent an official letter to the Iraqi Ministry of Oil that reads, “The attack on Khor Mor by outlawed groups led to the deaths and injuries of several staff members at the site, causing a halt in operations due to psychological impacts on the workforce and fears of further incidents.”
The cessation of activity at the Khor Mor field has led to a reduction of 2,500 megawatts affecting both the Kurdistan Region and the federal government. The attack also interrupted the distribution of liquefied petroleum gas, essential for household use across the region, according to the letter.
In response to the crisis, the Ministry of Natural Resources has requested provisions to supply affected residents with necessary gas supplies until operations at the field can resume. The ministry has outlined the required daily gas amounts for the governorate: 300 tons for Erbil, 260 tons for Sulaymaniyah, and 160 tons for Duhok. However, the totals requested for all three governorates tallies to 720 tons, not the 620 claimed by the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources statement. 964media has requested clarification from the ministry on this apparent discrepancy and will updated the story upon receiving a response. A source at the Khor Mor plant told 964media that the federal government has in fact agreed to the full 720 tons.
Umed Ahmed, spokesperson for the Ministry of Electricity, told 964media that the Kurdistan Region has an infrastructure capacity to produce nearly 7,000 megawatts of electricity. But even before the attack on Khor Mor, the region was generating between 3,500 to 4,000 megawatts, primarily due to an existing shortage of gas.