NordStream gas pipeline routeing problems continue

Fri, 13 July 2007

DEUTSCHE WELLE reports that the route of the Russia-Germany NordStream gas pipeline has again come into dispute, and the consortium is once more having to look at alternatives. A spokesman for the NordStream consortium said this week that the pipeline would require a further route change after it was found that a section had been planned to cross an offshore area that both Poland and Denmark claim as an exclusive economic zone.

This most-recent obstacle to the 1,200-km pipeline may prove to be more of a problem than previous re-routeings, mainly caused by Second World War subsea armament dumps. However, NordStream says that it already has an alternative route that it proposes to take to avoid the disputed territory. The consortium is now proposing to lay the pipeline between the Danish island of Bornholm and the SE coast of Sweden, although no final decision had been made. To add to the complexity, the Finnish government is requiring that the pipeline be routed outside Finnish waters in order to protect the environment, while Sweden (in particular) has complained that the pipeline could disrupt the Baltic Sea's sensitive flora and fauna.