Celebrations were held on November8th 2011 at a gas metering station near the town of Greifswald in Germany.
The celebrations were dedicated to the commissioning of the first string of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Taking part in the celebrations were Mr Dmitry Medvedev Russian President, ms Angela Merkel German Chancellor, Mr Francois Fillon French Prime Minister, Mr Mark Rutte Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Erwin Sellering Minister President of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Mr Guenther Oettinger EU Commissioner for Energy, Mr Alexey Miller Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, Mr Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE, Mr Johannes Teyssen Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO of E.ON AG, Mr Klaus Schaefer, Chairman of the Board of Management of E.ON Ruhrgas AG, Mr Gerard Mestrallet Chairman of the Board and CEO of GDF SUEZ, Mr Paul van Gelder Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of Gasunie, Mr Gerhard Schroeder Chairman of the Shareholders' Committee of Nord Stream AG and Mr Matthias Warnig Managing Director of Nord Stream AG.
Mr Miller said “Together with our partners we have successfully made a unique Nord Stream pipeline, which has no analogs in the world. For the first time the Russian and European gas transmission systems are connected directly. Russia, Germany, France and the Netherlands today started commercial deliveries of Russian natural gas through Nord Stream and together guarantee long term energy security of Europe. Today we start not just the first thread of one of gas pipelines we open a new export gas transport corridor.”
Nord Stream is a fundamentally new route for Russian gas export to Europe. Running across the Baltic Sea waters from the Portovaya Bay (near Vyborg) to the German coast (near Greifswald) the gas pipeline will stretch over 1,200 kilometers. The gas pipeline capacity will be 55 billion cubic meters per year.
The Nord Stream project is being implemented by Nord Stream AG, the joint venture set up for planning, construction and subsequent operation of the offshore gas pipeline. Stakes in Nord Stream AG are currently distributed as follows: Gazprom holds 51%, Wintershall Holding and E.ON Ruhrgas - 15.5% each, Gasunie and GDF Suez - 9 % each.
