Denmark approves gas pipeline under Baltic Sea
By DPA, IANSTuesday, October 20, 2009
COPENHAGEN - Denmark Tuesday granted a permit to an international consortium to bring natural gas from Russia to Germany via an underwater pipeline under the Baltic Sea.
In total 137 km of the 1,200-km-long pipeline through the Baltic Sea will pass through Danish territorial waters and its economic zone, the Danish Energy Agency said.
The route will pass east and south of the Danish island of Bornholm.
Factors considered in the decision included effects on fisheries, chemical munitions dumps, and cultural heritage, the Danish agency said.
The pipeline is envisaged to run from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald, Germany.
“We are very pleased that this permit has now been granted. The project is firmly on schedule,” Nord Stream Managing Director Matthias Warnig said in a statement.
Partners in the consortium include Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, German energy companies E.ON, BASF/Wintershall and Dutch company Gasunie.
Nord Stream said it was “in advanced discussions” with authorities in Russia, Finland, Sweden and Germany whose waters the pipeline was also envisaged to pass through.
