Russia opens pipeline directly linked to W. Europe

Russia Tuesday opened the first of the Nord Stream's two pipelines that bypass Ukraine and ship natural gas directly to western Europe. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Portovaya compressor station in the Leningrad region and launched the process. The pipeline will first be filled with "technical gas," which is used to create the pressure for pumping real natural gas. That's before the pipeline starts to deliver some 27.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, France and other European countries, said Russian gas giant Gazprom. Putin said at the ceremony that the launch of the Nord Stream would deprive Ukraine of its exclusive advantage in gas transit. "Ukraine is our old and traditional partner. As any transit country it has the temptation to benefit from its transit position," Putin said. "Now this exclusive right disappears. Our relations will become more civilized." The 1224-km dual gas pipeline project, which runs from Russia's Vyborg to Germany's Greifswald via the Baltic sea bed, has a designed capacity of 55 billion cubic meters a year. The second pipeline is expected to be commissioned at the end of 2012. Russia has long been seeking ways to deliver gas directly to the European market while bypassing former Soviet nations including Ukraine, and Belarus.