Stockholm - A consortium that plans to build an underwater Baltic Sea gas pipeline from Russia to Germany was confident it would get approval from Sweden, the group said Monday. Nord Stream, the Russian-German joint venture, in December submitted an application for the construction of the pipeline as well as an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
"We expect the Swedish application process to take up to 18 months," Nord Stream permitting director Dirk von Ameln told reporters.
The consortium includes Russian gas giant Gazprom, Germany's BASF/Wintershall and EON Ruhrgas and Dutch group Gasunie.
"We are confident enough to have ordered our pipes already," he said.
The 1,200-kilometre pipeline would run from Viborg in Russia to Greifswald, Germany, and was planned to pass through the Swedish economic zone, east of the Swedish Baltic Sea island Gotland.
Costs were estimated to be at least 5 billion euros (7.3 billion dollars), Nord Stream said, adding that prices of steel and vessels used to lay pipeline sections have contributed to price hikes.
In April, the consortium said it was due to hand in applications to other states impacted by the project including Russia, Finland, Denmark and Germany.
Von Ameln said the group was aware of opposition to the project among Swedish parliamentarians who have cited environmental concerns and fears that Russia would step up its military presence.
"There was no need for any military personnel to protect the pipeline," he said, comparing the pipeline to those in the North Sea.
He said Nord Stream had no plans to build a land-based route as called for by among others Anders Ygeman, environment spokesman for the opposition Social Democrats.
"Our project is a pipeline through the Baltic Sea," von Ameln said.
Although Sweden is not dependent on Russian energy exports the country would benefit from several hundred jobs for the supplies of pipeline material at a harbour on Gotland and two locations in southern Sweden, von Ameln said.
Other advantages included the fact that plants fired by natural gas produced less carbon dioxide than coal, the consortium said.
Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren has said the project would be evaluated according to "tough environmental assessments."
Critics have cited potential hazards posed by chemical weapons dumped in the sea after World War II, but von Ameln said surveys of the sea bottom along the planned route suggested fewer finds of ammunition "likely due to trawling in the past."
Technical challenges included the land-fault solutions at Viborg and Greifswald, von Ameln said.
