Dusseldorf - One of the main business backers of the Nord
Stream gas pipeline to be built under the Baltic Sea, the giant
German chemicals company BASF, affirmed the plan Thursday after
seeming doubts in Russia.
'My most recent talks with Alexei Miller, the chief of Gazprom,
confirmed that all the parties are working with firm resolve ... to
create the Nord Stream pipeline in the time frame,' BASF chief
executive Juergen Hambrecht said.
His response was released by the German business daily
Handelsblatt a day in advance of publication.
On Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had appeared
to question the project, saying that if Europe did not want the
10-billion-dollar pipeline, 'We will not start building the pipeline.
'Instead we will build plants for liquefying the gas and will send
it to world markets (by ship),' Putin said.
A staffer of the Nord Stream consortium, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, also denied that there was any faltering in Russian
support.
'We are still building the pipeline. But we do expect it to cost
more because of the higher cost of borrowing,' the staffer told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Key partners in the consortium are the Russian gas monopoly
Gazprom, German energy company E.ON, BASF and Dutch company Gasunie.
The pipe, connecting Vyborg, Russia to Greifswald, Germany is set to
be commissioned in 2011.
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