Nord Stream 2 Submits German Plans
The Gazprom-owned Nord Stream 2 company has formally applied to build the 85km section of that pipeline in German territorial waters, it said April 6.
It also added on April 7 that it has sent out on public referral in Sweden its plans for NS2's planned route on the 510 km in Swedish waters; it already submitted a construction permit to the government in September last year. NS2 said it handed in a supplement to its initial permit application in February 2017, following a consultation process with 13 Swedish authorities during late 2016.
With respect to its German plans, NS2 said April 6 its application documents for construction and operation will be available for public consultations on April 18 and that full documentation will be available for review and comments to the general public by May 17, 2017.
NS2 permitting manager Germany, Jens Lange, said this marked the beginning of the public consultation in Germany. The documents would be made available at several locations in the German coastal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and at the BSH federal maritime agency in Hamburg.
NS2 also published an environmental impact assessment report (Espoo Report), which presents potential environmental trans-boundary impacts of the new pipeline project across the Baltic Sea. The report was sent to the competent state authorities of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, which would allow these states to begin the procedure for consultations on the project.
Based on the materials of the Espoo Report, the above-mentioned five countries will inform each other and the rest of the Baltic region countries about the potential trans-boundary impacts of the project on the environment. Discussions will be held in the framework of international consultations. The report will be available for public comment and comments from April 18 2017.
International consultations on the Espoo procedure will be conducted in parallel, as far as possible, taking into account national requirements, the company notes, but says the international consultation phase should be completed by end June 2017.
NS2 would add capacity of 55bn m3/yr from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea to the existing Nord Stream pipeline's 55bn m3/yr capacity. The company hopes to have completed laying the two 27.5bn m3 NS2 pipes by late 2019, but that pre-supposes it starts construction later this year.
NS2 will enable more Russian gas to flow direct to Germany and its neighbours, rather than having to transit Ukraine. There are ongoing challenges by Poland and Ukraine on how much capacity in the existing NS pipeline may be effectively used.
Azerbaijan Desk