NORTH EUROPEAN GAS PIPELINE TO GIVE RUSSIA GREATER FREEDOM OF MANEUVER

RIA Novosti ^ | March 29

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MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA Novosti) - Investment decision on the North European gas pipeline will be taken in September, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told journalists on Tuesday.

"The investment decision on the North European gas pipeline will be taken in September and its construction will move to the investment phase," Miller said.

The decision on the beginning of the construction was made at the Gazprom board meeting on November 18, 2002.

The examination of the pipeline's 917-kilometer overland leg in Russia is under way. In the Vologda region, sites for compressor stations have been finalized and a preliminary version of the transport network for building the project has been prepared. Development of the line portion of the pipeline and the attendant communications has been completed. In the maritime Leningrad region, the project's engineering scheme has been prepared, initial data on the pipeline's line portion and compressor station sites gathered, engineering survey of facilities along the pipeline begun.

The project of the North European gas pipeline provides a basically new route for the export of Russian gas to Europe. It features the lack of transit states en route, which cuts country-related risks and the cost of Russian gas transportation, simultaneously raising the reliability of export supplies. The pipeline route passes via the Baltic from Vyborg to the German coast near Greifswald. The gas pipeline project provides for the construction of maritime branching to consumers in Finland, Sweden, Britain and other countries

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