KIEV, Sept. 7 - Russian oil company TNK-BP restarted its Ukrainian oil refinery, Linos, on Wednesday, a month after an accident had apparently shut down its key gasoline production unit, the company said.

The restart will help to ease pressure on the Ukrainian gasoline market that had been affected by stoppages for different reasons at four out of the country??™s six oil refineries over the past month.

Resumption of Linos's operation may help Ukraine reduce imports of gasoline in September, while the country has been increasingly turning to imports to meet its gasoline needs.

Ukraine was expected to imports 200,000 metric tons of gasoline in September, up from about 150,000 tons in August and about 100,000 in July, according to the Energy and Fuel Ministry.

TNK-BP said Wednesday it plans to produce 125,000 tons of gasoline in September, while overall crude oil refining is seen at 670,000 tons.

TNK-BP was forced to shut down production Aug. 8 after a lightning had stricken a power supply line, causing a short circuit and a surge in electric current that had damaged an electric motor powering the central turbo-compressor of the reforming unit. The unit is instrumental in production of 95-octane gasoline, the most popular gas in Ukraine.

Although the refinery was equipped with a special box protecting the motor from a surge in electric current, the device had failed, TNK-BP said.

TNK-BP has been trying to purchase a new electric motor in Russia and replace the one that had been damaged at Linos, but the plan had failed, forcing TNK-BP to hire a local Ukrainian company to repair the unit on the site.

"The electric motor had been repaired, went through all kinds of tests and is now put in operation," Leonid Zaytsev, the chief electric engineer at Linos, said.

Retail prices for 95-octane gasoline increased 2.5% over the past week to 4.1 hryvnias ($0.81) per liter, up from 4 hryvnias/liter as of Aug. 30.

Linos, which is capable of refining 16 million metric tons per year of crude, refined 3.14 million tons in January-July, down 12.7% on the year.

Linos produced 919,700 tons of gasoline in January-July, which accounts for 37.3% of Ukraine's total gasoline output in the period. (sb/ez)