Gazprom completes Nord Stream line
The first of the two lines in the Nord Stream pipeline project is completed and ready to be filled with gas.
The Nord Stream consortium has completed the socalled “golden weld” in the first line stretching across the Baltic Sea from Vyborg, Russia, to Greifswald, Germany. The 1224 km offshore line will be filled with gas already one of the coming days, the company informs in a press release.
In addition to the first line, the project’s second line is half-way completed. Together the two lines will be able to transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to buyers in the EU.
As previously reported, the consortium, which includes Gazprom, BASF SE/Wintershall, E.ON Ruhrgas AG, N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie and GDF SUEZ, started the construction of the pipeline in April 2010. The line is completed ahead of schedule. Originally, the date of completion was set to the last quarter of 2011. The second line is planned to be finished by the last quarter of 2012.
Most of the natural gas to be supplied by Gazprom via Nord Stream will come from the Yuzhno-Russkoye oil and gas field — one of the largest fields in the world. Later, the Nord Stream will also be supplied with additional gas from fields on the Yamal Peninsula, in Ob-Taz bay as well as the Shtokman field.
The Shtokman project includes the construction of a pipeline from the coast of the Barents Sea to Vyborg, from where the gas will be pipelined through the North Stream to Germany.
