North European gas pipeline agreement signed

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 21 -- OAO Gazprom, BASF AG, and E.ON AG signed a basic agreement to establish the North European Gas Pipeline Co. as a German-Russian venture for construction of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) through the Baltic Sea.

Under the agreement, Gazprom has 51% majority interest, and BASF and E.ON each have 24.5%.

NEGP will run from Vyborg on Russia's Baltic coast to the Greifswald region on Germany's Baltic coast, which is provisionally earmarked for landfall. Preliminary investigations of the seabed structure have been made.

The pipeline will be over 1,200 km long and is to be commissioned in 2010. It initially will be a single pipeline with capacity of 27.5 billion cu m/year. A planned second pipeline would double the capacity. Total investment for the twin pipeline project exceeds €4 billion.