The attack took place on Sunday night in the Sulaimaniyah governorate, with footage verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency Sanad showing smoke and flames rising from the vicinity of the facility.
It was not clear who was responsible for the attack.
The strike disrupted gas supplies to power plants in Erbil, Sulaimaniyah, Bazian, Chamchamal and Duhok, according to Omid Ahmed, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Electricity, as reported by the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
Ahmed said the attack knocked between 2,500 and 2,800 megawatts of electricity generation off the grid, significantly reducing the region’s power supply.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Smith, reporting from Baghdad, cited security sources as saying that an explosive-laden drone struck the gas storage facility, reducing the capacity of the regional electricity grid by between 70 and 80 percent.
In response to the disruption, the Ministry of Electricity said it would prioritize power supplies to critical facilities, including hospitals and water treatment plants, by operating hydroelectric stations and other power plants capable of running on alternative fuels.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi said an initial assessment indicated that there had been no casualties, INA reported.
Al-Zaidi also ordered the formation of a joint investigative committee involving relevant authorities in the Kurdistan Region to determine the circumstances surrounding the attack.
The incident follows a previous drone strike on the same gasfield in November last year, when the facility was also targeted without any group claiming responsibility.