Gazprom confirmed in late November that it would “stick to its plans” to construct the $12-billion Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, despite calls for change. “So far, there are no grounds to say the timeframe for the gas pipeline construction will be moved,” CEO Alexei Miller said. “We say that it will be put into operation in the second half of 2010.”
However, Sweden's three opposition parties have called on their government to reject the Nord Stream pipeline's subsea-construction plans. Stockholm's Svenska Dagbladet quotes the country's Social Democratic Party, Left Party, and Green Party as urging Sweden to join Poland and the Baltic states in examining the possibility of rerouting the pipeline onto dry land "for the sake of the climate and the Baltic Sea."
Finland has said it supported the pipeline, which will transport to Germany from Russia, but said it would study the pipeline's environmental consequences. The Gulf of Finland "is polluted, and toxic substances could surface from the seabed during the gas pipeline's construction," said Harri Helenius, Finland's ambassador to Russia.
The 1200-km long dual-pipe project planned by Gazprom, German energy company E.ON and German chemical company BASF, is projected to carry 55bn cum/yr. Opponents regard the project as controversial for national-security risks as well as environmental concerns.
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