Novatek has resumed LNG sales to Finland's Gasum in contracted volumes - Mikhelson

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 12 (Interfax) - Novatek has resumed liquefied natural gas supplies to the Finland's Gasum in contracted volumes, Novatek chief Leonid Mikhelson told reporters.

"The pause was not long. I don't remember what month exactly, April-May I think. There was a brief pause, a month or a little over a month, everything was delivered in contracted volumes," he said.

Gasum stopped buying gas from Cryogas-Vysotsk, part of the Novatek, group, at the end of April.

"The contract with Gasum was concluded by Gazprom Export [under an agency agreement, because Cryogas-Vysotsk has no legal right to export LNG]. And Gazprom Export and Gasum have certain difficulties with mutual settlements, these difficulties have become problems for us," Mikhelson said in June.

He said that the company was finding other buyers for gas unclaimed by Gasum, but so far not all of this volume has been placed. "Gasum used to by about 40% of our production, while we traded the remaining 60%. Now we are replacing that volume," Mikhelson said.

Cryogas-Vysotsk has the capacity for 770,000 tonnes of LNG per year.