The construction of the undersea section of the Nord Stream gas pipeline will be completed in mid-May, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.
In his annual address to the Russian parliament last week, Putin said that the undersea section will be finished in July.
"I informed our colleagues that the works are coming to an end, the undersea section will be completed on May 15," Putin told a news conference in Copenhagen, after talks with his Danish counterpart.
He said gas deliveries to European consumers are due to begin in October.
"For the first time, we will begin to deliver Russian gas to the Dutch market, with supplies of about two billion cubic meters and the possibility to increase them in future," the Russian premier said, adding that all contracts have been signed and prices agreed.
The Nord Stream project, intended to deliver Russian gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe, envisages the construction of two parallel pipelines, each with a capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters a year. The 1,224-km pipeline is designed to stretch from Russia's Vyborg near the Finnish border to Greifswald on the German coast.
The project is designed to pump gas from Siberia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, bypassing East European transit countries. Russian energy giant Gazprom has already signed long-term gas supply contracts with Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.
Apart from Gazprom, the project involves Germany's Wintershall Holding GmbH and E.ON Ruhrgas AG, each holding a 15.5% stake in Nord Stream AG, Dutch gas infrastructure company N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie and the French energy company GdF SUEZ S.A. with a 9% stake each.
COPENHAGEN, April 27 (RIA Novosti)
