Nord Stream AG and two German environmental organizations have agreed on measures to protect the Baltic Sea, the gas pipeline operator said Friday.
"After intensive negotiations, two German environmental groups - BUND Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania and WWF Germany - have reached an agreement with Nord Stream AG on further far-reaching environmental steps to protect the Baltic Sea," Nord Stream AG said.
"Plans for the long-term storage of excavation material from construction works at the landfall, and for environmental monitoring during construction have been modified," it said.
Dirk von Ameln, Nord Stream Permitting Director, said: "Negotiations over the past few weeks have been very constructive. We have a common interest in improving the protection of the Baltic Sea's ecosystem. This goal has been achieved."
Von Ameln said the sides are likely to complete the environmental talks within two months.
The 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 blamed for previous disruptions in gas supplies to the region.
Two pipelines, each with a capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters a year, are designed to stretch from the Russian city of Vyborg near the Finnish border to Greifswald on the coast of Germany.
Nord Stream AG announced in March that it had secured $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%.
The World Wildlife Fund said Friday that the Nord Stream construction on the Baltic Sea bottom has become much safer as a result of the talks between Nord Stream AG, BUND and the WWF.
Russia and Germany signed an agreement on the construction of the pipeline in September 2005, during then-president Vladimir Putin's visit to Berlin.
Nord Stream AG has changed the originally proposed route of the pipeline to ease environmental concerns from Baltic nations. The final route goes through the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, avoiding Poland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
MOSCOW, April 23 (RIA Novosti)
