Rocket attack in Iraq's Kurdistan region caused fire in oil tank

Six rockets struck the Khabat district in northern Iraq's Erbil province, near one of the semiautonomous Kurdistan region's largest oil refineries May 1, causing a fire in one of the big tanks that was later contained, in the latest attack targeting energy infrastructure in the country.

The rockets were meant to impact power supplies in the region, Iraq's security forces said on Twitter.

"This evening six Katyusha rockets targeted an area in Khabat district in western Erbil province," a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government, or KRG, said on Twitter. "The attack resulted in no casualties or material damages. The rockets were originated from Bartella town in Nineveh province."

They hit the 136,000 b/d Kawigosk refinery, run by Kurdish oil company Kar Group, and were in the same area that three rockets struck on April 6.

A compound owned by the head of Kar Group, Baz Karim, was also hit by a missile attack on March 13, with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming it was targeting an Israeli base.

Karim has denied that his compound was hosting any Israeli activity.

Kurdish officials have condemned the strikes, which they say are Iran's attempt to intimidate the regional government over plans to export natural gas to Europe, if a pipeline connection to Turkey can be built.

Karim called on the Iraqi government to protect "the Iraqi citizen and provide him with security and safety inside his country," Kurdish media outlet Rudaw reported.

Gas exports

The Kurdistan region aims to become a net exporter of gas to the rest of Iraq, as well as Turkey and Europe, Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said in late March, though this would require significant investment and political buy-in from the federal government in Baghdad.

Kar Group has an agreement with Barzani's administration to build a gas pipeline from the Khor Mor field in southern Kirkuk to Erbil and then on to Dohuk, near the Turkish border.

The KRG is also locked in a spat with the federal Iraqi government over oil revenues, which is playing out, as parliament in Baghdad is struggling to form a government amid rivalries between various Sunni, Kurdish and Iranian-backed Shia factions.

"We will become a net exporter of gas to the rest of Iraq, Turkey and Europe in the near future, and help meet their energy security needs," Barzani told an energy conference in Dubai on March 28. "Already, we have an export oil capacity, which acts as an essential economic lifeline for us and a vital potential supply for our partners. We have significant untapped reserves of both oil and gas in our region."

The KRG produces almost half a billion cubic feet of gas per day, the prime minister said, without disclosing reserves figures.

In crude, the region produced 388,000 b/d oil in March out of Iraq's total 4.148 million b/d, according to figures from federal oil marketer SOMO published April 6.