Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin thanked his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt for the approval of the Nord Stream project. “The new gas pipeline is bound to provide sustainable deliveries to European consumers in the upcoming years, and Germany, Denmark, France and the United Kingdom will receive additional amounts of energy resources,” he said. Nord Stream will transport up to 55 billion cubic meters of gas each year. Nord Stream is a 1,220-kilometer-long offshore natural gas pipeline stretching through the Baltic Sea, from Vyborg, Russia to Greifswald, Germany, which is to be built by Nord Stream AG. Nord Stream AG has received all the permits required to commence construction on the pipeline through the Baltic Sea. Sebastian Sass, head of Nord Stream’s representation to the EU, who was in Strasbourg on 9 March to brief MEPs on the project told New Europe that “the European character has been understood by the EU community and debated have been less intense.” Nord Stream is a joint project of four major companies: Gazprom, BASF/Wintershall Holding AG, E.ON Ruhrgas AG and N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie.