The route will avoid overland routes through Ukraine and Belarus where price disputes have led to the European gas supply being shut off briefly in the past two years, raising worries in Europe about Russian reliability as an energy supplier. Construction is planned to start in 2010 and the company – controlled by Gazprom – has said it would complete an environmental impact assessment this summer. "We plan to complete the pipeline on time and we do not believe this would be impossible," Mr Schroder said after he met with EU officials and politicians to put forward his view that the project was critical for European energy security. "I believe this project is completely essential as far as gas supply security goes, not only for Germany but also Europe," he said, claiming Europe had few other choices as Norwegian supplies dwindle and Iran, the owner of the world's second-largest natural gas resources after Russia, remains a politically doubtful as a partner. He said alternatives were in "certain regions of the world, where you must ask, 'is that politically a better bet than Russia?'". Nord Stream said the pipeline, when finished, could deliver 55bn cum/yr of gas a year, which represents around 25% of the European Union's estimated gas needs in 2015, directly from Russia to Germany, where it could then be transported to Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and other countries. This amount compares with Gazprom's total supply of around 150bn cum in 2005. But countries bordering the Baltic Sea have expressed worries that the pipeline poses a major risk to the environment and Russian activity in their waters could compromise their military security. In December, Swedish lawmakers raised fears about disturbing the seabed, especially because of the large amount of mustard gas from chemical weapons dumped after World War II. Michael Moore, a Swedish army official, is reported to have said that the Baltic Sea was "one of the most mine-riddled" waters in the world, estimating that some 100,000 mines still rest on the seabed. In response, the company said it would carefully examine the pipeline route to avoid or remove ammunition along a 2-km wide corridor. Dirk von Ameln, the Nord Stream deputy technical director, dismissed worries of explosions, saying most of the chemical ammunition dumped in the sea is inert mustard gas in liquid form. "This ammunition is not equipped with igniters so we don't have to fear any explosions," he said. "Nevertheless, we will do a very sound investigation of every metre where we put the pipeline to find those chemical warfare but also find any other kind of ammunition."