Nord Stream AG, the OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS)-led joint venture building an underwater pipeline from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea , has completed financing, a German daily newspaper reports ahead of publication Friday.

"We've secured the remaining EUR2.5 billion in financing we needed for the second pipeline stage," Nord Stream Chief Financial Officer Paul Corcoran told the Frankfurter Allgemeine in an interview.

The financing agreements with lenders will be signed in the second half of January, the report added.

Earlier this year, Nord Stream raised EUR3.9 billion from 26 financial institutions and international banks for the first stage of the pipeline.

Construction costs for the pipeline are expected to be EUR7.4 billion. Including interest on loans the costs will be EUR8.8 billion, Corcoran said previously.

The first pipeline of the project, under construction since April this year, is due to transport gas in October 2011. The second line is expected to be operational in November 2012, Corcoran told the newspaper.

The pipeline, with a planned capacity of around 55 billion cubic meters of gas, is financed with 70% external funding and 30% equity capital.

Apart from Gazprom , Germany 's Wintershall AG--a unit of BASF AG (BAS.XE)--and E.ON AG (EOAN.XE) as well as Gasunie of the Netherlands and France 's GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) own shares in Nord Stream.

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