BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Oil Minister Jabbar Luaiby on Tuesday announced that the Ajil oilfield destroyed by Islamic State (IS) militants has been rehabilitated.
The Iraqi North Oil Company (NOC) managed to repair three oil wells in the oilfield, some 30 km west of Tikrit, capital of Iraq's central province of Salahudin, and linked the crude oil pipeline to Baiji refinery in the north of Tikrit, the Oil Ministry said in a statement.
"The oilfield is currently producing 7,000 barrel per day (bpd) and is designed to reach 17,000 bpd by the end of the year," Luaiby was quoted as saying.
Luaiby said that Iraq has also managed to rehabilitate gas production from the oilfield to 100 million cubic feet daily, according to the statement.
In 2014, IS militants took control of the Ajil oilfield and extracted large amounts of oil to finance its operations. The group set fire to the wells before the Iraqi forces regained control in March 2015.
Iraq aims to increase its crude oil production to over 5 million bpd from its current level of about 4.4 million bpd.
Iraqi economy relies heavily on oil, which accounts for over 90 percent of its revenues.
Earlier in 2017, it was announced that Iraq's proven oil reserves had increased to 153 billion barrels from the previously estimated 143.1 billion barrels.
