Several oilfields operated by foreign companies in Iraq’s semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan have halted production in the past few hours following attacks with explosive-laden drones on infrastructure at the fields.
On Tuesday, a drone attack forced the suspension of production at the Sarsang oilfield, operated by a U.S. privately held firm, HKN Energy. The attack took place hours before HKN Energy signed a preliminary agreement with the Iraqi oil ministry to develop another oilfield.
HKN Energy confirmed production at Sarsang has been suspended, but noted that all personnel have been safely accounted for.
The attacks continued on Wednesday morning local time, with explosive-laden drones hitting oilfields operated by Norwegian firm DNO and U.S.-based Hunt Oil Company, Kurdistan’s counter-terrorism services said.
DNO announced on Wednesday that operations at its Tawke field in Kurdistan have been temporarily suspended following three explosions early this morning, one involving a small storage tank at Tawke and another involving surface processing equipment at Peshkabir. There have been no injuries. The damage assessment is underway, and the company expects to restart production once said assessment is completed.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
However, Kurdistan security sources told Reuters that initial investigations suggested the drone came from areas controlled by Iran-backed militias.
The oil production halt comes as the federal government in Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in Erbil continue to quarrel over who should be responsible for the oil exports and the subsequent revenue distribution.
The federal authorities say Baghdad should have sole discretion in handling oil exports and oil revenues.
Oil exports from Kurdistan have now been halted nearly two and a half years after they were shut in in March 2023 due to a dispute over who should authorize the Kurdish exports. Despite some breakthroughs in negotiations in recent months, the disagreements apparently continue, and Kurdistan’s oil exports continue to be shut in.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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