Dana Gas has resumed production at its Khor Mor gas facility in northern Iraq, restoring operations at a field that is central to electricity supply in the Kurdistan Region and an important part of the company’s growth plans for 2026. The restart follows a temporary suspension put in place on 28 February as the regional security situation deteriorated amid wider conflict-linked disruption across Iraq’s energy sector.
The return of output is significant well beyond Dana Gas itself. Khor Mor supplies fuel for more than 80 per cent of the Kurdistan Region’s electricity generation and supports power availability for more than six million people in the region and other Iraqi governorates. Any interruption at the field has an immediate effect on electricity generation, industrial activity and public services, which is why the resumption is being closely watched by officials, investors and consumers alike.
Dana Gas said production resumed after weeks of intermittent operations and a broader shutdown that had been announced in early March. The company had kept the plant in a state that would allow it to return to service when conditions permitted, signalling that the halt was precautionary rather than the result of lasting technical damage at the facility itself. That distinction matters for markets, because it suggests the company’s core asset base remains intact even as its operating environment stays volatile.
Khor Mor has become increasingly important to Dana Gas after the completion of the KM250 expansion project in October 2025. That project added 250 million standard cubic feet per day of processing capacity, lifting total installed capacity at the site to 750 MMscf/d. By January 2026, Dana Gas said output at Khor Mor had risen to more than 700 MMscf/d during peak demand periods, adding roughly 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to the company’s net production in the Kurdistan Region.
The expansion had positioned 2026 as a year of stronger revenues and higher utilisation for the Abu Dhabi-listed producer. Dana Gas has said the completed project, once fully supported by downstream infrastructure, could raise annual revenue by more than 35 per cent. A new common-user pipeline expected in the second half of 2026 is meant to help sustain operations at full capacity and potentially lift group production beyond 75,000 boepd. The resumption at Khor Mor therefore restores not only current supply, but also a central plank of the company’s broader production strategy.
The interruption nonetheless underlines how exposed northern Iraq’s energy system remains to geopolitical shocks and repeated security incidents. Khor Mor has been targeted multiple times over the past few years, including a deadly drone strike in April 2024 that killed four Yemeni workers and halted operations. Analysts and regional observers have since pointed to the field as one of the most strategically sensitive pieces of energy infrastructure in Iraq because of its role in the Kurdistan grid and its symbolism as a high-value private-sector investment.
The wider backdrop has also become more complicated. Iraq’s energy industry has been strained by the fallout from the confrontation involving Iran, with southern oil operations, tanker flows and domestic logistics all affected in varying degrees. Against that setting, the restart at Khor Mor offers some relief for the Kurdistan Region, but it does not eliminate the broader risk hanging over infrastructure in both the north and south of the country.
For Iraq, the field’s revival highlights an enduring contradiction. The country needs private capital, gas development and power-sector reform to reduce waste and improve electricity reliability, yet those same investments remain vulnerable to armed escalation and political fragmentation. For Dana Gas and its partner Crescent Petroleum, resuming output at Khor Mor is an operational gain, but it is also a reminder that commercial progress in the region can still be overturned quickly by events far beyond the plant gate.
The return of output is significant well beyond Dana Gas itself. Khor Mor supplies fuel for more than 80 per cent of the Kurdistan Region’s electricity generation and supports power availability for more than six million people in the region and other Iraqi governorates. Any interruption at the field has an immediate effect on electricity generation, industrial activity and public services, which is why the resumption is being closely watched by officials, investors and consumers alike.
Dana Gas said production resumed after weeks of intermittent operations and a broader shutdown that had been announced in early March. The company had kept the plant in a state that would allow it to return to service when conditions permitted, signalling that the halt was precautionary rather than the result of lasting technical damage at the facility itself. That distinction matters for markets, because it suggests the company’s core asset base remains intact even as its operating environment stays volatile.
Khor Mor has become increasingly important to Dana Gas after the completion of the KM250 expansion project in October 2025. That project added 250 million standard cubic feet per day of processing capacity, lifting total installed capacity at the site to 750 MMscf/d. By January 2026, Dana Gas said output at Khor Mor had risen to more than 700 MMscf/d during peak demand periods, adding roughly 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to the company’s net production in the Kurdistan Region.
The expansion had positioned 2026 as a year of stronger revenues and higher utilisation for the Abu Dhabi-listed producer. Dana Gas has said the completed project, once fully supported by downstream infrastructure, could raise annual revenue by more than 35 per cent. A new common-user pipeline expected in the second half of 2026 is meant to help sustain operations at full capacity and potentially lift group production beyond 75,000 boepd. The resumption at Khor Mor therefore restores not only current supply, but also a central plank of the company’s broader production strategy.
The interruption nonetheless underlines how exposed northern Iraq’s energy system remains to geopolitical shocks and repeated security incidents. Khor Mor has been targeted multiple times over the past few years, including a deadly drone strike in April 2024 that killed four Yemeni workers and halted operations. Analysts and regional observers have since pointed to the field as one of the most strategically sensitive pieces of energy infrastructure in Iraq because of its role in the Kurdistan grid and its symbolism as a high-value private-sector investment.
The wider backdrop has also become more complicated. Iraq’s energy industry has been strained by the fallout from the confrontation involving Iran, with southern oil operations, tanker flows and domestic logistics all affected in varying degrees. Against that setting, the restart at Khor Mor offers some relief for the Kurdistan Region, but it does not eliminate the broader risk hanging over infrastructure in both the north and south of the country.
For Iraq, the field’s revival highlights an enduring contradiction. The country needs private capital, gas development and power-sector reform to reduce waste and improve electricity reliability, yet those same investments remain vulnerable to armed escalation and political fragmentation. For Dana Gas and its partner Crescent Petroleum, resuming output at Khor Mor is an operational gain, but it is also a reminder that commercial progress in the region can still be overturned quickly by events far beyond the plant gate.
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