Finnish environmental officials have today given their permission for the construction of a Ôé¼7.4 billion Baltic natural gas pipeline to go ahead.
The Russian-German joint venture Nord Stream, which is based in Zug, Switzerland, had already received the required permits from Denmark, Sweden and Russia, through whose waters the pipeline will pass.
The southern Finnish Regional State Administrative Agency has said that it has granted Nord Stream a permit to build the pipeline through the countryÔÇÖs exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Baltic Sea.
Construction of the 1,200 kilometre pipeline is now expected to begin in April and is scheduled to be completed in 2011. It will carry around 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year from the Russian port of Vyborg, near the Finnish border, to the German port of Greifswald on the Baltic coast.
The pipeline, which will connect to the European energy grid in Germany, marks a major step forward in Russia's strategy to diversify its energy export routes to Europe.
The worldÔÇÖs largest natural gas producer, Gazprom, is leading the project. The pipeline is the companyÔÇÖs first link to western Europe that avoids transit countries which have previously been blamed for supply disruptions.
The EU has been eager to secure more reliable imports of gas after shipments through Ukraine were stopped twice over the last four years. A row between Ukraine and Russia over gas prices and fees disrupted GazpromÔÇÖs supplies to 20 European countries for almost a fortnight in January 2009.
Gazprom is aiming to expand its share of the European gas market from about 25 per cent now to around 30 per cent in 2015. The company has already contracted 22 billion cubic metres of gas deliveries via the pipeline.
TodayÔÇÖs permit was the final hurdle for Nord Stream, after an environment report found the project feasible and the Finnish government sanctioned the use of FinlandÔÇÖs EEZ.
The Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin this week dismissed environmental concerns over the pipeline, saying that Nord Stream had spent over Ôé¼100 million on researching the environmental impact, making it the largest such study in the region.
Nord Stream has also changed the proposed path of the pipe to allay environmental concerns, moving the route north of the Danish island of Bornholm and further away from nature reserves which lie near the Swedish island of Gotland.
Gazprom holds 51 per cent of Nord Stream, while the German energy companies E.ON Ruhrgas and Wintershall each hold 20 per cent. The Dutch company Nederlandse Gasunie holds the remaining nine per cent.
