Nord Stream is a planned natural gas offshore pipeline from Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald in Germany by the company Nord Stream AG. The name occasionally has a wider meaning, including the feeding onshore pipeline in Russia, and further connections in Western Europe.
The project, which is promoted by Russia and Germany, is seen as controversial for environmental, political and national security concerns in several countries such as Sweden, as well as Poland and the Baltic states, which favour overland alternatives.
The plan for the offshore pipeline is to build two parallel legs each with capacity of 27.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year. The diameter of the pipe will be 1,220 millimetres (48 in) and the working pressure 220 bars (22 MPa). The first leg of the pipeline is to be built in 2010–2011 and the second one in 2011–2012. The first gas delivery is scheduled for late 2011.
Controversies include:
A.a lack of transparency
B.Fears that Russia will have Western Europe even more over the proverbial barrel
C.fears that the Russians will use it to spy or as an excuse to leave military boats closer to Sweden than Sweden would like
D.it's too expensive
E.and the big one, it's likely to be hard on the environment.
Poll
