Russia pumped the first “technical” gas into a new undersea pipeline to Germany that will increase Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas and drastically cut Moscow's reliance on transit countries.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday pressed the “start” button to launch the filling of the Nord Stream pipeline at a ceremony in Vyborg, near St. Petersburg, the starting point of the $12.5 billion 1,220-kilometre pipeline built across the Baltic Sea to Germany.
The first gas is expected to reach customers by November. When the second parallel pipeline is completed by the end of 2012, Nord Stream will carry 55 billion cubic metres (bcm)of Russian natural gas to Western Europe.
Russia currently accounts for about a quarter of the gas consumed in the European Union and Nord Stream will increase Russian supplies by more than one-third from last year's level of nearly 140 bcm.
Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom projects European gas consumption to grow in the coming decade by 200 bcm per year — a jump of 50 per cent.
Nord Stream is the first Russian export pipeline that bypasses transit countries. The pipeline will greatly reduce Russia's dependence on Ukraine, which currently carries 80 per cent of Russian gas to Europe through Soviet-era pipelines.
“We are slowly and surely turning away from the dictate of transit states,” Mr. Putin said.
Disputes between Ukraine and Russia over gas prices repeatedly disrupted shipments to Europe in recent years.
The standoff has resurfaced this year with Ukraine threatening to appeal to the arbitration court in Stockholm if Russia refuses to renegotiate the 2009 contract and reduce the price of its gas.
