https://www.newarab.com/news/drone-attacks-slash-iraqi-kurdistan-oil-output-70-percentDrone attacks cut oil production in Iraqi Kurdistan by more than 70 percent
<A spate of unclaimed drone attacks forcing the closure of oil fields in Iraqi Kurdistan is further straining the autonomous region's financial crisisMore than 70 percent of Iraqi Kurdistan’s oil production has been shut down due to recent drone attacks targeting vital facilities.
The northern Iraqi autonomous region has seen multiple attacks this month, targeting key oil fields in Erbil, Dohuk and Zakho, which had previously produced hundreds of thousands of barrels per day.
The facilities are operated by different local and international oil firms.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and both the federal government in Baghdad and the Erbil-based Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have refrained from directly accusing any party, despite parallel investigations.
The damage led to a partial or complete shutdown of operations, reducing production from approximately 300,000 barrels per day to around 80,000 and negatively impacting the region's budget, which relies heavily on oil revenues, according to The New Arab’s sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
The spate of attacks and significant impact on the region’s oil infrastructure comes amid heightened tensions between Erbil and Baghdad over oil revenues and export controls.
Long-standing legal and technical disputes have also kept a key oil export pipeline to Turkey closed since 2023, further complicating already strained ties.
Turkey has recently submitted a draft proposal to Iraq to renew and expand an energy agreement between the two countries to include cooperation in oil, gas, petrochemicals and electricity, an Iraqi oil ministry official told the state news agency late on Monday.
The statement came after Ankara announced the end of a decades-old agreement covering the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
An advisor to the KRG Parliament, Mahmoud Khoshnaw, confirmed that the drone attacks directly targeted several key oil fields in the region, including the Khurmala field southwest Erbil with a production of approximately 100,000 barrels per day.
In Zakho, the Peshkhabur and Tawke fields each produce approximately 107,000 barrels and the Ain Safni around 12,500 barrels per day.
He continues that the Sarsang field in Dohuk produces 30,000 barrels a day, while the Shekhan field northwest of Erbil produces around 48,000 barrels per day.
The halt in production at these fields has led to a drop in the region’s total production from 280,000 barrels per day to just 81,000, representing a decline of more than 70 percent, Khoshnaw tells Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
This further complicates the economic crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan and exposes the region’s financial stability to real risks, given the KRG’s heavy reliance on oil revenue, he adds.
Direct losses incurred by the foreign companies running the oil fields has exceeded $11 billion in one year, with investments of around $400 million suspended.
These attacks, says Khoshnaw, carry "dangerous messages," claiming that Baghdad was more affected by these drone attacks and the implications than Erbil.
"These operations are paid for with the aim of muddying the waters, assigning blame, and distracting public attention from more pressing issues facing the country," Khoshnaw said.