A now three-day series of drone attacks on Iraqi Kurdistan’s oilfields, leading to a shut-in of 150,000 bpd and ratcheting up already-inflamed tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Erbil and the Iraqi federal government in Baghdad.
Late on Wednesday, Chinese media reported another drone attack on a Dohuk province oilfield connected to U.S. operator Hunt Oil. According to Xinhua and China Daily Asia, the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed the latest attack occurred at 7:10 pm local time (1610 GMT).
That was the second reported attack on Dohuk on Wednesday.
From Monday to early Wednesday, explosive-laden drones struck the Tawke and Peshkabir fields operated by DNO ASA, along with Dohuk. A separate strike set fire to the Sarsang field run by HKN Energy, prompting a region-wide shutdown, according to Kurdish Rudaw.
Alarabiya cited the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) as stating that more than 200,000 bpd of output is now suspended, including preemptive shutdowns at unaffected sites.
The attacks are believed to be the work of Iran-aligned militias operating in southern Iraq, based on preliminary intelligence cited by Reuters.
U.S. officials have condemned the strikes, warning that they threaten Iraq’s economic stability and broader regional security. The Kurdistan government labeled them acts of terrorism targeting national infrastructure, according to Al Arabiya.
These attacks come amid ongoing paralysis of the Iraq-Turkey (Ceyhan) pipeline, which remains offline following a 2023 arbitration ruling. The production freeze now deepens the friction of over control of oil exports and revenue sharing.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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