PARIS — Nord Stream, a Gazprom-led consortium, will complete the financing this month to build a $10 billion gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea from Russia to western Europe, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Tuesday.
The funding will be resolved this month, and the entry of GDF Suez — the fifth shareholder in the 7.4 billion euro ($10 billion) link — will not delay the start, Miller said in an interview. The venture aims to start construction April 1 after receiving its last permit in February.
The Russian gas export monopoly and its partners, which also include BASF's Wintershall unit, E.On Ruhrgas and Nederlandse Gasunie, plan to ship gas directly to Western Europe, bypassing transit countries such as Ukraine. The first line is scheduled to start in 2011 and deliver 27.5 billion cubic meters a year to a terminal in Germany.
A second line is slated to raise capacity to 55 bcm a year later.
An accord with banks will be signed in the next few weeks, a Nord Stream spokeswoman, who declined to be identified because of company policy, said by telephone.
Nord Stream expects to borrow 3.9 billion euros from 27 banks under binding commitment letters signed in November, Paul Corcoran, the venture's finance director, said in December. Export credit agencies, including Germany's Hermes, Italy's SACE and United Loan Guarantee Program of Germany, will cover a 3.1 billion euro syndicated loan.
GDF Suez will take a 9 percent stake in Nord Stream by the start of construction, Gazprom said Monday. The company may increase gas supplies to the French energy producer by 1.5 bcm per year via Nord Stream in 2015, the companies said.
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