Peregraf
Hunt Oil has resumed operations in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region, nearly a month after a drone attack struck one of its oilfields in Duhok province, a company spokesperson confirmed on Friday. The U.S. energy firm expects to restore output to normal levels by the end of August.
The restart follows similar moves by other operators, including Norway’s DNO ASA, which announced this week that production had resumed at its Tawke and Peshkhabur oilfields in the Zakho Independent Administration. DNO said output has been gradually ramped up on a test basis to 55,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), split evenly between the two fields.
DNO also reported a 10 percent rise in overall net production during the second quarter of 2025, reaching 92,600 boepd, though volumes from Kurdistan declined due to the drone strikes. The attacks, which began in late June, damaged oilfields and infrastructure across Erbil, Duhok, Sulaymaniyah, and Zakho, reducing the Region’s crude production by an estimated 140,000–150,000 barrels per day.
The resumption of operations comes as Kurdish and federal officials work to implement a deal reintegrating Kurdistan’s oil into Iraq’s federal export system through the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO). Under the 2023–2025 budget law, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is required to deliver at least 230,000 barrels per day in exchange for $16 per barrel. Current output stands at about 130,000 bpd, with nearly 50,000 consumed domestically.
KRG officials have warned that repeated drone strikes have undermined their ability to meet quotas, while exports through the Ceyhan pipeline remain suspended since 2023 due to an unresolved legal dispute between Iraq and Turkey. The oil handover arrangement is also tied to a wider Baghdad-Erbil agreement covering budget auditing, non-oil revenues, and the payment of public sector salaries, which remain overdue for more than 1.2 million employees.