UPDATE 1-Balticconnector gas pipeline back in operation after damage

(Adds quote, gas volume, background in paragraphs 3-7)

HELSINKI, April 22 (Reuters) – A Baltic Sea gas pipeline that was torn apart last year in an incident still under police investigation has resumed commercial operation as planned after months of repair, operator Gasgrid Finland said on Monday.

The Balticconnector subsea gas link between Estonia and Finland was severely damaged in October along with three telecoms cables, hurting energy security and raising alarm bells in the wider region.

“I can already confirm that Balticconnector is operating normally,” Gasgrid executive Janne Gronlund told Reuters.

Some 60 gigawatt hours of natural gas would flow from Finland to Estonia on Monday, he added.

Finnish police have

named

the Hong Kong-flagged NewNew Polar Bear container ship as the prime suspect in causing the damage, saying last year it was too early to tell if this was an accident or a deliberate act.

A large anchor, believed to belong to the Chinese vessel, was found near the pipeline, and the investigators said the pipe and the telecoms cables were likely broken as the anchor was dragged across the sea bed.

Finland has said it held constructive

talks

with China over the incident and that Chinese authorities had promised full

cooperation

in the pipeline probe. (Reporting by Essi Lehto and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki and Nora Buli in Oslo, editing by Terje Solsvik)