Reuters AlertNet Lite - Sweden, Lithuania want other Baltic gas pipe routes

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Sweden, Lithuania want other Baltic gas pipe routes

19 Feb 2007 17:15:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

STOCKHOLM/VILNIUS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Lithuania and Sweden said on Monday they wanted the planners of a Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany to look at alternative routes to address their concerns about the environment and security.

The five billion euro ($6.57 billion) pipeline, planned to run from Vyborg in Russia under the sea 1,200 km to Greifswald in Germany, has been criticised by some in Sweden and the Baltic states, nervous over security and possible ecological impacts.

Sweden's Environmental Protection Agency said it wanted an evaluation of alternative routes across the Baltic and even what the consequences of not undertaking the project at all would be.

The agency also wants the Nordstream consortium planning the pipeline to look at moving it away from sensitive ecological areas and at what the effects would be on the seabed, including how it might shift poisonous material in sediment.

Lithuania's Environment Ministry went further, saying an ecological catastrophe could be caused if weapons left on the seabed from World War II were disturbed or erosion accelerated.

"We think the alternatives to the planned submarine pipeline should be discussed, it is not correct to present just one option," ministry official Aleksandras Spruogis told Reuters.

Building an over-land pipe should be considered, the ministry added.

The builders of the pipeline, Nord Stream, majority-owned by Russia's Gazprom <GAZP.MM>, has said it would work closely with countries on dealing with any ammunition left on the seabed.

Sweden has sent its demands in a letter to Nordstream and these should be addressed in the Russian-German consortium's final environmental impact study, said Inger Alness at the Swedish EPA. The environmental study would probably be ready in the autumn, she added.

The agency has also gathered comments from other organisations, including the National Board of Fisheries and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

As well as the munitions issue, these called for more information on the effect of storms on the pipeline and how it would be dismantled in the future.

The agency is not the first to express concern about the pipeline, which its owners hope will supply 40 percent of the European Union's extra gas needs by 2015.

Sweden's defence minister has said a platform associated with the pipeline could bring Russia's military closer to the Swedish mainland and be used for spying.

Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland also fear the pipeline could allow Russia to turn off transit pipes across their territory which guarantee their energy supplies.

Nord Stream hopes to begin pumping 27.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year in 2010, with a second pipeline later doubling capacity to 55 bcm. Germany's BASF <BASF.F> and E.ON <EONG.DE> have minority stakes in Nord Stream.

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Last updated:Mon Feb 19 17:16:52 2007