MOSCOW, September 11 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has postponed until September 20 the main hearings in Rizben Enterprises Ltd.'s lawsuit to recover 49.429 million rubles ($1.55 million) from RUSIA Petroleum, which previously held the license to the Kovykta gas field, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Tuesday.

The court has postponed the preliminary hearings, so the parties can provide further materials in the case.

During the preliminary hearings, the defendant did not agree with the debt that it allegedly owes to the applicant. He said a register of the creditors' claims was formed during RUSIA Petroleum's bankruptcy procedure, which included the debt amount. The debtor then paid the debt to its creditors, he added.

RAPSI has yet to obtain comments from either side.

The Irkutsk Region Commercial Court ceased RUSAL Petroleum's bankruptcy case in October 2011, as the company paid its debt to its creditors. Rizben Enterprises Ltd. and the Federal Tax Service were RUSIA Petroleum's primary creditors, and represented the Social Insurance Fund's claims.

Gazprom purchased RUSIA's property during an auction in March 2011 for 25.8 billion rubles ($813.7 million) and obtained the rights to develop the field.

The Federal Subsoil Use Agency reissued the license to Gazprom on September 30.

The bankruptcy administrator earlier said the company transferred on October 17 11.8 billion rubles ($372 million) to Rizben Enterprises Ltd. and 21 million rubles ($662,320) to the fund. The payment was effected in eight tranches. The bankruptcy administrator filed a petition to terminate the bankruptcy proceedings at the company after it repaid its debt in full.

RUSIA Petroleum was established in April 1992 to develop hydrocarbon deposits in the Irkutsk region. The company operates the Kovykta gas field, whose reserves are assessed at over 2 trillion cubic meters of gas.