"We are now looking into building a branch of the pipeline, which should go straight from Russia to northern Germany," Mr Putin said, according to the Russian government's official website. Gazprom recently began building the Northern European gas pipeline (NEG), and plans to complete the first 100km through the Boksitogorsky area in the Leningrad region within six months. As part of the project, 568km of pipelines will be built on land, and 1089km under the Baltic Sea. The line will begin transporting gas in two years' time, and should reach its planned capacity of 55 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/yr) in 2009. The total cost of the project is currently estimated at $5.7 billion. Gazprom's decision to build the pipeline is linked to the company's development of the South Russian gasfield. The pipeline will pass through Russia's Vyborg region, go under the Baltic Sea, and emerge in Greifswald, in Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania, in Germany. Branches may then be built under the Baltic Sea to link the pipeline with Russia's Kaliningrad region, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and the UK. The NEG pipeline will pass through other countries for transit, which will lower transport costs and make it more reliable for export.