BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Iraq is seeking offers from foreign companies to rehabilitate an oil pipeline to Syria's Mediterranean terminal of Banias after a Russian firm did not begin the work, an Oil Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

A Russian company was signed up to fix the pipeline, which has not been used for exports since the 1980s, but has not taken up the task, ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said.

The pipeline has a capacity to carry 300,000 barrels of crude per day.

"The Russian company failed to do the job and now we are seeking other foreign firms to evaluate the damage and rebuild the pipeline," Jihad said.

Russian firm Stroytransgaz signed a protocol with Iraq to reactivate the oil export pipeline last March, according to Russian officials. It is not clear if it signed a formal contract and Jihad did not identify the company he was talking about.

Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari arrived in Iraq on Tuesday on a visit and one of the subjects under discussion would be the pipeline, officials said.

During a visit to Russia this month, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he would like to revive contracts signed by Russian companies before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Syria has a 600 km (375 mile) border with Iraq.

U.S. forces bombed the pipeline on the Iraqi side of the border during the invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.

Reporting by Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Michael Christie.