Nord Stream Making Good Progress

The construction of the first Nord Stream pipeline is 75% complete, Germany's DPA news agency said citing Georg Nowack, Nord Stream AG project manager for Germany.

The project, intended to deliver Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe, envisages the construction of two parallel pipelines, each with a capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters a year.

The 1,224-km pipeline is designed to stretch from Russia's Vyborg near the Finnish border to Greifswald on the German coast. "The first of the two pipelines, with a length of 900 km, is 75% complete," Nowack told journalists.

The first pipeline is due for completion in 2011, and is scheduled to pump first gas this autumn. The second line is due to be completed in 2012, doubling annual capacity to around 55 billion cubic meters of gas, which is enough to supply more than 26 million households in Europe.

Nord Stream is a joint project of five major companies: Gazprom, BASF SE/Wintershall Holding GmbH, E.ON Ruhrgas, Gasunie and GDF SUEZ.

Total investment in the offshore pipeline is projected at 7.4 billion euro, but the exact budget is yet to be calculated.

Source: RIA Novosti