ZUG, Switzerland, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- German authorities delivered a permit for the construction of a 31-mile section of the Nord Stream pipeline in its waters, the Nord Stream consortium said.
Nord Stream hailed the permit Monday as a result of three years of environmental surveys and cooperation between the consortium and regional officials.
"We have engaged in detailed consultations on all aspects of our proposed pipeline in order to ensure that the pipeline will be safe and environmentally sound," said Matthias Warnig, the managing director of Nord Stream AG. "This kind of close cooperation will be maintained as the project further moves on."
Nord Stream, along with its South Stream counterpart, is part of a Russian effort to diversify a regional transit sector through routes that avoid politically sensitive territory in Ukraine. Currently, Russia transports roughly 80 percent of its gas for European customers through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine.
Nord Stream AG said it expects Germany and Finland to finalize more permits within the next few weeks. It will transport 1.9 trillion cubic feet of gas each year to European consumers by 2012.
The consortium, owned by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, Germany's BASF and E.ON and Dutch gas company N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, has signed supply contracts with several regional governments.
