Iraq’s Oil Ministry has announced that reconstruction and rehabilitation work at the Kask refinery in the northern Nineveh governorate has been completed, and the main unit has resumed operation.

The refinery had a capacity of 10,000 barrels a day (b/d) before being sabotaged by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) militants at the height of the violent conflict between the terrorist group and Iraq’s military.

Reconstruction work on a second unit is ongoing, Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luiebi has been quoted as saying in a statement posted by Iraq’s Oil Ministry.

Iraq has been trying to rebuild refineries in the north of the country ever since Baghdad declared victory over the radical outfit in December last year.

The Oil Ministry has been seeking financing support from investors to rebuild and restart the refineries and other oil export infrastructure in the governorates of Nineveh, Saladin, Kirkuk and Anbar, which are vital source of petrodollars for Iraq's battered economy.

In February, the Ministry invited companies to submit expressions of interest to finance and build a new 100,000 b/d refinery in the northern town of Qayara in Nineveh, although it is yet to provide an update on the project.

The state-run North Oil Company is also making efforts to raise oil production from its fields in Nineveh.