Iraq has suspended crude production from the northern Kirkuk region as a precaution against the escalations in drone and missile attacks linked to the US–Israel conflict with Iran, Iraqi oil ministry sources told Argus.
Production levels at Kirkuk were averaging 220,000 b/d before the suspension, the source said.
The move follows several days of aerial attacks across northern Iraq, particularly in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, since hostilities began over Iran on 28 February. No direct damage to Kirkuk field facilities has been reported, but authorities moved to halt output to safeguard personnel and infrastructure, the sources said.
At least one field feeding the Kirkuk blend had already shut in output. London-listed Gulf Keystone suspended its 41,500 b/d Shaikan field as a precaution. US independents HKN Energy on 2 March also shut-in Atrush and Sarsang fields, taking the total shut-in liquids output in the Kurdistan region to around 125,000 b/d, or 45pc of output before the conflict started.
The Kirkuk export stream was already disrupted, when pumping through the Iraq–Turkey pipeline to Ceyhan was halted earlier this week on security grounds.
Kirkuk exports only resumed in September 2025 following a more than two-year shutdown. March loadings had been scheduled at around 6.95mn bl, or 224,000 b/d, according to port data.
There is about 1.2mn bl of storage capacity for Kirkuk crude at Ceyhan. The halt tightens sour crude availability in the Mediterranean, where refiners had relied on Kirkuk as an alternative to Basrah supplies from southern Iraq. Basrah loadings are ongoing but it is unclear if tankers can transit the strait of Hormuz, and freight rates and war-risk premiums have climbed since the conflict began.
Also in northern Iraq, gas flows from the Khor Mor field were suspended earlier this week, cutting regional power generation capacity. Multiple drone interceptions have been reported near Erbil and other strategic sites.
