Germany Says No Thanks to Third Line of Nord Stream
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the country does not need to participate in the building of a third line of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Pravda reports Merkel's comments that the country will fill the energy supply gap from the closing of its nuclear power plants by switching to alternative energy and existing and planned gas-powered electric power stations.
Merkel said that the German economy needs 80 GW of electric power. Nuclear power plants in the country give 20 GW, of which 8.5 GW have been cut out, Merkel said."About 11 GW is left. We want to cover a part of it with the help of renewable power sources, and we want to double their share. The volume that we have left does not require the third, the fourth or the fifth pipes of Nord Stream."
Analyst Grigory Bird also said that Nabucco, the competitor of Nord Stream, finds support in Europe. "This project will be able to deliver natural gas to Europe from Central Asia, so there is no need in the third branch of Nord Stream for Europe indeed," he said.
Russian PM Vladimir Putin stated last week that the second branch of the Nord Stream pipeline would be build along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. "The South Stream is next on the agenda. Another branch of Nord Stream is also possible," he said.
Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov specified that it could be possible only hypothetically.
Nord Stream's first leg with the capacity of 27.5 billion cubic meters is to be launched in October of the current year. The construction of the second branch of the pipeline is slated to begin in the autumn of 2012.
The capacity of two branches of Nord Stream will make up 55 billion cubic meters. Thus, the volume of Russian natural gas delivered to the European Union may exceed 220 billion cubic meters a year.
"These are very impressive numbers, but the question is whether the additional capacities for the third leg of Nord Stream are going to be in demand in Europe. I think that the potential capacity of 203 billion cubic meters will be more than enough for Europe for many years ahead if Gazprom's share in gas shipments to Europe remains the same (23 percent)," Grigory Birg, a senior analyst with Investcafe said.
Russia was courting Germany's support for an expanded Nord Stream, should the South Stream pipeline project stall by failing to reach an agreement with Turkish authorities on the matter of the pipeline transiting through Turkish territorial waters.
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