Waren, Germany - Completion of the controversial Nord Stream
gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea is likely to be delayed by one year
from 2011 to 2012, a German executive working on the Russian-led
project said Wednesday.
His comment clashed with a printed news release from Nord Stream,
a consortium with Russian, German and Dutch involvement, which stated
that 2011 was the target for the first flow.
'We don't expect the first natural gas to arrive till 2012,' said
Andreas Hieckmann, the project chief at the Gazprom Germania company.
He was speaking in Waren, north of Berlin, where Gazprom is
studying the suitability of a bed of deep rock to store the gas in
after it lands.
Nord Stream said it aimed to complete a multinational
environmental review of the undersea route by the end of this year.
Sweden has echoed environmentalists who fear the seabed trench for
the pipes may kill sea life and stir up toxic material. Poland has
led strategic criticism, saying Russia may gain a massive advantage
by piping the gas outside the borders of intermediate nations.
Hieckmann said he expected delays because dumped wartime
ammunition would have to be recovered from the Baltic seabed before
the pipeline is laid and because of the 'political friction' in the
permissions process.
'Even if the regulatory procedures go according to plan, it will
be a complex construction job,' he said.
When complete, the line will transport 27.5 billion cubic metres
of gas annually to western Europe. After landing on the German coast,
the line will split, with one, codenamed NEL, bound west, and the
other, the OPAL, bound south.
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