Construction of the German gas pipeline Nel, of the Nord Stream, has
been halted by a court, Kommersant reports.
Nel was to transport Russian gas from the Nord Stream to Lubmin
towards Reden in Lower Saxony. Construction was agreed on in summer
2008, designing started in 2009, RIA Novosti reports.
Locals from Luneburg in Lower Saxony, where Nel was to run, filed
complaints that it would run 30-50 meters away from houses, through a
school and its sports ground. Experts said that there would be no
houses within a range of 350 meters from the pipeline.
The court halted construction and offered E.On Ruhrgas (a joint
venture of Wintershall and Gazprom) and Gasunie to develop an
alternative route for the pipeline. A spokesman for E.On.Ruhrgas,
Helmut Roloff, said that it is a local problem and will not affect
other sections of the pipeline.
Vitaly Kryukov of IFD-Capital believes that the problem of Nel in
Harburg should not affect the terms and expenses of the pipeline
construction. Gazprom hopes that the European Commission will not
separate gas distributors and owners of infrastructure.
Nel will connect the Nord Stream with Russian gas infrastructure.
Russian natural gas will be transported to Germany, the Netherlands,
Belgium, France and UK. The Gasunie project will integrate Germany and
the Netherlands into the common concept.
The pipeline is set to cost 1 billion euros.
