Iraq's state-owned North Refineries Company said on Saturday it had started production at its Baiji oil refinery and was looking to boost production levels to 80 per cent to make up losses after a shutdown.

An official at the refinery, north of Baghdad, said all production units were operational after it shut down on Thursday due to an electrical fault caused by overloading of the grid.

"We will work with our full efforts to reach an 80 per cent capacity to compensate what we lost during the shutdown," the official, who declined to be named, said.

The Baiji refinery normally operates at 70 per cent of its production capacity.

The official said of the three units at the refinery, two were working at 70-75 per cent of production capacity, while one was at 65 per cent.

North Refineries Company, which operates the refinery, has a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd). A North Refineries Company senior official said electricity flow at the refinery was stable.-Reuters