Swedes Give Approval to Nord Stream Pipeline Construction
By Niklas Magnusson
Bloomberg
STOCKHOLM — Sweden became the second country to grant final approval for Gazprom’s Nord Stream natural- gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, ending almost two years of Swedish opposition and wrangling over the energy project. The country approved the 506-kilometer Swedish stretch of the 1,220-kilometer link that will pump gas from Russia to Germany, Zug, Switzerland-based Nord Stream and the government in Stockholm said Thursday. Opposition to the project was widespread in Sweden, where the public, politicians, media and fishermen questioned its impact on fish breeding grounds and the environmental risks of laying pipes on a seabed littered with mines and chemical weapons dumped during two world wars. Russia’s motives behind the project were also questioned, including concerns that pipeline facilities may be used for espionage. “The government has made tough demands to secure that the sensitive environment in the Baltic Sea isn’t jeopardized,” Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said Thursday. Denmark gave permission on Oct. 20 and Germany, Russia and Finland also have to give a go-ahead for the project on which construction is planned to start early next year. The venture, which also includes BASF SE’s Wintershall Holding and E.ON Ruhrgas, seeks to transport 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year when completed in 2012 and is designed to ease supplies from Russia to Western Europe by avoiding Ukraine. “Nord Stream is aiming to obtain all required permits by the end of 2009,” the company said Thursday.
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