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2 March 2011
Nord Stream AG has registered as one of the MIEF-2011 participants. Nord Stream is the joint venture incorporated to prepare the feasibility report on the gas-main pipeline «Nord Stream» and to construct it.
Nord Stream AG’s shareholders – OJSC «Gazprom», E.ON Ruhrgas AG, BASF SE/Wintershall Holding AG and N.V.Nederlandse Gasunie – will construct the off-shore gas pipeline «Nord Stream» that will become a new gas supply route to Europe. It will allow of direct connection of the Western Europe to the largest Russian gas fields. The shareholders’ committee comprises the top-managers of each founder-company. The shareholders’ committee is chaired by Gerhard Schröder, an ex-chancellor of Germany. The headquarters of Nord Stream AG is located in Zug (Switzerland) and the company’s branch office works in Moscow.
Nord Stream is more than just a pipeline. It is rather a large infrastructural project to open new prospects of the EU-Russia cooperation. By connecting the Russian gas fields to the European gas transport network, Nord Stream will be able to cover about 25 % of the EU demand for additional gas import. «Nord Stream» will not pass any transit states, so the cost of the Russian gas transport will be reduced and possible politic risks will be excluded. «Nord Stream» will ensure most reliable gas supply to the customers of the Northern Europe. The EU institutions, realizing the necessity of developing new gas import routes, have recognized Nord Stream to be «a project, meeting the interest of all Europe».
Before the actual construction, the territory of the Baltic Sea along the route of «Nord Stream» was thoroughly examined. The route of the gas pipeline was projected to form, as far as possible, a straight line and adjusted according to certain zones, such as environmentally sensitive areas, chemical weapons burial sites, military zones, important navigation lines and other special zones used for the economic and recreational purposes. In the beginning of February 2011, the works on laying the first line of the gas pipeline «Nord Stream» was completed.
«We have completed laying the most complex pipeline segment according to the schedule. By now, about 80 % of the first «Nord Stream» string have been laid across the Baltic seafloor, – says Ruud Hoekstra, the Deputy Director of Nord Stream in charge of Construction. – Together with Saipem, our general construction contractor, we have chosen the dynamically positioned pipe-laying vessel by Allseas, named Solitaire, for the works on the segment in the Gulf of Finland. It operates without anchors so it will not affect the seafloor. Thus, we have got an additional guarantee of the safety of the works in this region of the Baltic Sea which is famous for its intensive sea traffic and the mine lines, remaining since the Great Patriotic War».
«The laying is being performed in strict compliance with the route approved by the state bodies of Russia and Finland. The gas pipeline construction program is being perfectly implemented due to thorough planning of all elements of the project: technical, environmental and logistic ones, as well as the safety and operation issues. In developing these components we have constantly conferred with the state bodies of all the five countries which territories the pipeline will pass», – added Ruud Hoekstra.
The three segments of the oil gas pipeline will be joined at two junction points straight on the seafloor. This spring, the segment laid through the Gulf of Finland and the central segment will be joined at the depth of 80 meters, not far from the Finnish coast. The connection of the central segment and the south-western segment not far from the coast of the Island of Gotland (Sweden) at the depth of 110 meters which is to be performed this summer will be the closing stage of the construction of the pipeline’s first string.
Translated from Russian into English by Literra translation bureau
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