Sweden approves contested gas pipeline: report

Sweden’s Enterprise Minister Mikael Damberg said his country had no legal means of opposing the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

If built, the 1,200-kilometre pipeline, which is scheduled for completion in 2019, will be capable of supplying around 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine.

Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine all oppose the project.

Around 500 km of the gas link will run through Swedish territorial waters, according to IAR.

Germany’s maritime authority approved the project in March, making Germany the first country to have issued all the necessary permits for the pipeline to be built within its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.

In early April, the Finnish government gave the go-ahead to the construction of the undersea pipeline through Finland's economic zone.

The US State Department spokeswoman said in March that the American government opposed Nord Stream 2 as the project would undermine Europe’s energy security and stability.

(pk/gs)

Source: IAR