Denmark approves Nord Streamroute, Finland is due next

Denmark on 20 October granted a permit to an international consortium to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany via an underwater pipeline under the Baltic Sea. In total 137 kilometres of the 1,200-kilometre-long pipeline through the Baltic Sea will pass through Danish territorial waters and its economic zone, the Danish Energy Agency said. The route will pass east and south of the Danish island of Bornholm. Factors considered in the decision included effects on fisheries, chemical munitions dumps, and cultural heritage, the Danish agency said.
Sebastian Sass, head of Nord Stream’s representation to the EU, on 22 October hailed Denmark’s decision. “That was particularly good news because on one hand Denmark has very strict environmental standards, on the other hand they have very sophisticated off-shore technology from the North Sea, so that combination for us is also a great vote of confidence,” he told New Europe.
Nord Stream said it was “in advanced discussions” with authorities in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany whose waters the pipeline was also envisaged to pass through. Sass said that Finland’s government was due to take a decision either on 29 October or 5 November. “We believe the Finnish government will be the next one making a decision on the project.”
The pipeline is envisaged to run from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald, Germany. “We are very pleased that this permit has now been granted. The project is firmly on schedule,” pipeline construction company Nord Stream Managing Director Matthias Warnig said in a statement.
Partners in the consortium include Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, German energy companies E.ON, BASF/Wintershall and Dutch company Gasunie.
Meanwhile, Nord Stream said 22 October that they would hold on to their ambitious plan on the pipeline construction. The pipes will be lowered onto the Baltic Sea seabed starting in the spring of 2010. “First of all we have to wait for the permissions. We believe we’re going to get them by the end of the year,” Sass said. “We could start constructing in the spring and then adapt the progress of the construction to the environmental factors that have to be taken into account,” he added. He cited as an example the spawning of cod in the Swedish section.