Pipeliners

ST. PETERSBURG, January 24 (RIA Novosti) - The results of a tender to supply pipes for the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline to link Russia to the EU via the Baltic Sea will be finalized by March 30, the project operator said Wednesday. Sergei Serdyukov, technical director of Russian-German consortium Nord Stream AG, said at least three out of six enterprises invited to take part in the tender will be selected to supply large-diameter pipes for the project. "Each will submit a bid by January 30. The results [of the tender] are expected to be finalized by March 30," he said. The Nord Stream pipeline, which is expected to come online in 2010, will connect Russia's Portovaya bay on the Gulf of Finland, near St. Petersburg, to Germany's Greifswald via the Baltic seabed. The project to build the pipeline, stretching over 1,200 kilometer (750 miles), is designed to minimize transit risks associated with Russian gas supplies to Western Europe. Serdyukov said the project operator had sent invitations for the tender to three Japanese pipe producers (Sumitomo, Nippon Steel and JFE), Germany's Europipe, and two Russian companies - the Vyksy Metallurgical Works and the Izhora Pipe Plant. The technical director said Nord stream AG also intends to finalize the results of a tender for a vessel to lay pipes under the Baltic Sea in late March. Nord Stream AG, originally called the North European Gas Pipeline Company, was renamed in October last year. Russian energy giant Gazprom owns 51% of the consortium, while Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas AG and Wintershall AG each hold 24.5%.