TPT May 2010

G lobal M arketplace

A third pipeline project of keen interest to Europe – involving a third sea, the Baltic – cleared a last major hurdle on 12 February with the approval by the Finnish regulator of a permit needed for beginning construction work off the coast of Finland. The pipeline company, Nord Stream, under mainly German and Russian auspices, now may go ahead on offshore work in all five countries under whose waters the pipeline will pass – Germany, Russia, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. If the Nord Stream pipeline proceeds on schedule, it will begin advancing the EC’s energy-sufficiency aims rather quickly. From its headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, the consortium on 12 February reported an April start date for constructing the first of the two parallel legs comprising the pipeline, which would begin transporting gas late next year. When completed in 2012, the project will be able to transport 1.9 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas a year from Russia to Germany, where Nord Stream will join the European energy grid. Gazprom owns 51% of Nord Stream; Wintershall and the chemical company BASF, of Germany, a 20% stake each; Nederlandse Gasunie, 9%. Gaz de France has negotiated to join the consortium. Gazprom signed long-term contracts to supply over 700 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas a year through Nord Stream to customers in European Union countries including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium and Denmark. › At 759 miles, the projected Nord Stream pipeline is longer than South Stream (300 miles), shorter than Nabucco (2,050 miles). But as the likely first to the finish line, and the one which circumvents the countries of central Europe, it holds potential for changing European energy politics, at least in perception and possibly also in fact.

Austria, to start ordering their pipe, probably by autumn, if they are to come in for any of the EC money. › In other news of the Caspian Sea, Iran state TV reported on 14 February that the Iranian company North Drilling Co had begun drilling its first exploratory oil well there in the previous week. The well, one of three planned to gauge the amount of recoverable oil in Iran’s territorial waters, was reported as taking place 5,085 feet under the seabed. The move is the latest in an Iranian initiative to exploit more of the resources of the Caspian, which Iran shares with Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Iran’s first offshore oil platform in the sea was inaugurated last year.

Europe’s energy aims get a boost from Finland’s go-ahead for the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea

The European Commission is not basing its hopes of broadening the sources of its natural gas supply solely on the Nabucco pipeline projected for the Caspian Sea. [“Pipeline from Turkey to Austria,” above .] The EC’s commissioner for energy, Günther Oettinger, has noted the bloc’s interest as well in South Stream, also set for commissioning in 2015, which would take Russian natural gas under the Black Sea to Bulgaria. From there it will branch off northwest to Austria and south to Greece and Italy. South Stream is a joint project of Russia’s Gazprom and the Italian oil and gas corporation Eni, with Électricité de France a possible additional participant.

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M ay 2010

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