LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) - One of the biggest and most important oil pipelines in the North Sea, Britain’s Forties pipeline, should restart in early January after repairs of a crack over Christmas, the pipeline’s operator Ineos said on Thursday.

“Work on the pipeline is progressing well and based on current estimates Ineos is planning to complete the repair around Christmas,” it said in a statement.

“Ineos has initiated the planning phase necessary to begin recommissioning the system, including the Kinneil facility, as soon as the pipeline repair is complete.”

“Initially a small number of customers will send oil and gas through the pipeline at low rates as part of a coordinated plan that allows Ineos to carefully control the flow into the system.

“Based on current estimates the company expects to bring the pipeline progressively back to normal rates early in the new year,” Ineos said. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Jason Neely)