Nord Stream in operation

The Nord Stream offshore natural gas pipeline from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany will become fully operational on November 8th. The opening ceremony will be attended by Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s Prime Minister Francois Fillon. The Voice of Russia’s Anna Forostenko reports.

Nord Stream is Russia’s first offshore pipeline which will pump gas to Europe. In previous years, Russia supplied gas to Europe via trunk pipelines that ran overland, through the territories of Ukraine and Belarus. Nord Stream will make it possible to pump gas directly from Russia to Germany. It will cover 1,224 kilometers running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The project includes two parallel lines, each with the capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year. The second line will be completed in 2012, Nord Stream Press Secretary Jens Muller said in a Voice of Russia interview:

"The prospect of laying a third line looks uncertain, even though it would yield substantial economic benefits for both parties. The laying of a third line is only a proposal which has to be approved by the shareholders. Nevertheless, it does have a chance of being implemented in the future."

Opponents criticized Nord Stream all throughout the construction period. Politicians and environmentalists alike advanced all sorts of arguments against it. But time put it all in place. Now, the only complaint they put forward concerning Nord Stream is its high cost. However, these kinds of pipelines, though stable and reliable, don’t yield profit quickly. Costly pipeline projects have become present-day reality, energy expert Konstantin Simonov says:

"Russia’s newly launched pipeline projects are often criticized for being too costly and requiring hefty investments. But few such projects are cheap nowadays. Compared to western analogues, the subsea part of Nord Stream is within the usual cost range."

As for Nord Stream, it’s also important because it guarantees uninterrupted gas supplies to Europe, Jens Muller says:

"Nord Stream is a significant link in the European gas supply strategy, which provides for diversification of gas supply sources and transportation routes. Nord Stream is vital for providing Europe with gas."

Europe is aware that despite speculations about shale gas, alternative sources of energy and a decrease in fuel consumption amid the global economic crisis, gas is the fuel of the future. Gas outputs in Britain and the Netherlands have been falling recently. For this reason, gas to be pumped via both lines of Nord Stream and through the South Stream pipeline is bound to be in great demand in the future.

The Voice of Russia, November 7, 2011