Attack targets Sarsang oil field in Duhok, halting production as KRG blames ‘outlawed groups’

ERBIL — The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Natural Resources said an attack targeted the Sarsang oil field in Duhok late Thursday, causing damage and halting production at the site operated by HKN Energy.

In a statement issued Friday, the ministry said outlawed groups operating in Iraq carried out a “terrorist attack” on the field, condemning it as an assault that “targets the economic infrastructure and the resources of the people of the Kurdistan Region.” It said responsibility lies with “the party from whose controlled areas the attack was launched,” and called on the Iraqi federal government to prevent further attacks on “the civilian population of the Kurdistan Region and the economic infrastructure and the oil and gas sector.”

The attack is the latest strike on Kurdistan Region energy infrastructure since the war between the United States, Israel and Iran began Feb. 28. The Khor Mor gas field in Sulaymaniyah has been offline since the same date after Dana Gas suspended production as a precautionary measure, removing up to 3,000 megawatts from the region’s power grid.

Since the war began Feb. 28, Iran has launched missile and drone attacks against U.S. and allied positions across the region, while Iran-aligned Iraqi militias have claimed responsibility for multiple drone attacks inside Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Erbil alone has been targeted by more than 100 missiles and drones.

The statement comes after senior Iranian official warned that if Iranian Kurdish opposition groups are allowed to operate from the Kurdistan Region or cross into Iran through it, “all facilities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, as the rear base of these groups and the regime, will be widely targeted.”