NORD STREAM gets final approval from Finland

The Nord Stream project has received the last approval from Finland to build a gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea. The investment, worth 7.5 billion euros, will fund the construction of two lines 1220 km long. It will be able to pump 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually.  The pipeline will begin near the Russian city of Vyborg and end near the German city of Greiffswald. The first line will be commissioned in 2011, and the second -- in 2012. 

Ecologists and some governments fear the project could have negative consequences on environment and shipping routes in the Baltic Sea notes Onet.pl.

51% of shares in the North Stream is owned by the Russian gas giant Gazprom, with 20% belonging to Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas and Wintershall each, and 9%  to the Dutch company Nederlandse Gasunie.