Nord Stream AG, a venture in charge of the construction and operation of a natural gas pipeline that will connect Russia with Europe along the Baltic seabed, said Tuesday it has submitted project documentation to all interested parties to launch an environmental impact assessment, needed for the authorization of the $10.5 billion project, RIA Novosti reports.
The venture, in which Russia's state-run energy giant Gazprom holds a 51% stake and German companies BASF and E.ON Ruhrgas AG own 24.5% each, said in a statement that related documents were submitted to the environmental authorities of Denmark, Finland, Germany, Russia and Sweden, in accordance with the Espoo Convention.
"The Nord Stream pipeline is set to pass through the exclusive economic zones and/or territorial waters of these countries, which (except Russia) are therefore defined by the Convention as the 'Parties of origin'. Russia is a signatory, but not a Party to the Espoo Convention. However, Russia will act as a Party of origin as far as it considers it possible according to its legislation," the statement said.
"To fulfill the obligations under the Espoo Convention, the responsible environmental authorities of the 'Parties of origin' and Russia will notify each other and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland as 'Affected parties' of the planned project, on the basis of the Nord Stream project information document. This step will be followed by public consultations in the Baltic Sea region countries according to the legislation in each country. The 'Parties of origin' and Russia will then inform Nord Stream of the results of the consultations. This information will be an important basis for preparing the final environmental impact assessment."
The Nord Stream pipeline, which is to include two parallel legs measuring 750 miles each, will guarantee reliable supplies of Russia's natural gas to Western European consumers, and will reduce Russia's dependence on transit countries, which include Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland.
The Russian-German agreement to build the pipeline, signed last fall by President Vladimir Putin and the then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder in Berlin, evoked predictable sentiments in the ex-Soviet Baltic states, which see the agreement as a gas version of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
But Russia's authorities said that the Baltic countries have only themselves to blame for the fact that Nord Stream will bypass their territories, as they have allowed political principles to override the importance of economic issues.
