Operations have restarted at the Khor Mor gasfield in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, with the transmission of gas to power stations starting at 2am local time on Sunday, the Kurdish regional government's Electricity Ministry announced.
The restart comes days after a drone attack halted production and led to extensive power cuts.
“At 2.00am today, the transportation of gas from the Khor Mor field to power plants began and the power plants will be restarted and now the electricity situation is improving and within 24 hours, the situation will be completely normal,” the ministry said.
The Khor Mor gasfield, one of the largest in the Kurdistan Region, provides supplies for regional power generation.
Kurdistan's Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said that the government has agreed with Dana Gas to restart production within the next several hours, aiming to restore electricity.
“I have spoken with the company's (Dana Gas) leadership to thank them and their workforce for their extraordinary resilience and determination amid eleven attacks on the Khor Mor field,” Mr Barzani said.
“I have assured them that the KRG will do all it can with partners in the federal government to hold the perpetrators accountable and prevent further terror attacks,” he said.
He pledged that the incident would not “pass without public accountability. “It cannot become the norm.”
“I have urged [Iraqi] Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani to hold the perpetrators of this attack accountable to the full extent of the law, whoever they may be and wherever they are.”
On Thursday, joint field operator Dana Gas said a rocket hit a storage tank at the gasfield, leading to a shutdown in production and extensive power cuts. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and authorities have not said who was behind the attack.
The attack was the most significant since a series of drone attacks in July hit oilfields and cut production from the region by about 150,000 barrels per day.
The Kurdistan Regional Government exercises autonomy in northern Iraq, where US companies have significant investments in energy.
Kurdish authorities accused Iran-backed militia groups of carrying out the attack. The Co-ordinating Committee of the Iraqi Resistance Factions denied responsibility for the attack, describing the reports that blamed it as “malicious”.
“The resistance does not target civilian sites and its weapons are always directed against the occupation,” the group, which includes armed Shiite factions, said.
US envoy to Iraq Mark Savaya said that “Iraq stands at a critical crossroads” and that it can move towards independent institutions capable of enforcing the law and attracting investment, or “fall back into the cycle of complexity that has burdened everyone”.
He stressed that the issue of weapons outside state control must be fully resolved and the prestige of official institutions must be protected.
“No economy can grow, and no international partnership can succeed, in an environment where politics is intertwined with unofficial power. Iraq now has a historic opportunity to close this chapter and reinforce its image as a state built on the rule of law, not the power of weapons.”
Mr Savaya earlier accused “armed groups operating illegally and driven by hostile foreign agendas” of carrying out the attack.
Kurdistan's Rudaw news website quoted Mr Savaya as saying on Saturday that “big changes” are expected in Iraq without elaborating.
“There are big changes coming in Iraq … everyone will see actions instead of words,” he said.
