The first pipelay vessel started its journey to the Baltic Sea to begin
construction on the Nord Stream pipeline, which will pump Russian natural gas
to Europe, the project operator said on Monday.
The 150 meter-long (492 feet) Castoro 6, refurbished in the Netherlands,
will start laying the pipes in Swedish waters, about 60 km (37 miles) off the
coast of the Swedish island of Gotland, Nord Stream A.G. said.
The 1,220 km-long (758-mile) Nord Stream pipeline will eventually pump
55 billion cubic meters of gas per year to western Europe, bypassing
traditional transit countries such as Ukraine and Belarus.
Nord Stream will build two pipelines, each with a capacity of 27.5
billion cubic meters a year, on the
Baltic
Sea
floor stretching from
Russia
's
Vyborg
near the Finnish border to
Greifswald
on the coast of
Germany
.
Nord Stream A.G. announced on March 16 that it had secured 3.9 billion
euros ($5.3 billion) in financing for the project, covering 70% of the first
phase. Gas transportation on the new line should begin in 2011.
The remaining 30% of the costs are expected to be financed by the Nord
Stream shareholders. Russian energy giant Gazprom holds a 51% stake, German
chemical group BASF/Winterhshall and utility E.ON Ruhrgas each hold 20% stakes
and Dutch energy group Gasunie holds 9%.