06 September 2011

RUSSIA / GERMANY : Putin Opens...Nord Stream Nat Gas Pipeline.

                                        BBC

    One half of the strategically important Nord Stream nat gas pipeline...that runs under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany...bypassing the Ukraine...has been opened by PM Putin.
    Full service should begin in a few weeks.
    The 1,224km/761 mile twin pipeline cost...$12.5bn/E8.8bn.
    It runs from Vyborg, Russia... to Sassnitz, Germany.
    The second pipeline is scheduled for completion by 2013.
    Currently...80% of Russian gas for the EU flows through Ukrainian pipelines.
    Russia and Ukraine have had several past price disputes that slowed or even ended nat gas deliveries to the EU.