As part of the 21st European Business Congress (EBC) Presiding Committee meeting, Berlin hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee and Marcel Kramer, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, Gasunie. The parties addressed the relevant issues of cooperation between the companies.

“Today, we may definitely say that the Nord Stream project is a success. The initial project stage, being the most difficult one, has been accomplished, the critical amount of preparatory measures have been taken. The joint efforts made by the shareholders of Nord Stream AG, the company’s employee team, the European countries interested in the project implementation are yielding results. Consistent development of the project is a vivid example of cooperation strengthening between Russia and Europe in the energy sector,” said Alexey Miller at the meeting.

Background:

Gasunie is a European gas company. Gasunie’s gas transmission network comprises over 15,000 kilometers of pipelines in the Netherlands and in northern Germany and some 1,300 gas receiving stations. The network ranks among the largest high-pressure gas pipeline networks in Europe. The annual gas throughput totals approximately 125 billion cubic meters per annum. Gasunie offers transportation services through its subsidiaries: Gas Transport Services B.V. in the Netherlands and Gasunie Deutschland in Germany. In addition, the company provides a number of services in the gas infrastructure field, including natural gas storage and LNG.

On November 6, 2007 Gazprom and Gasunie signed an Umbrella Agreement to partner in the Nord Stream and BBL gas pipeline projects. On June 10 2008 Gasunie was registered as a new shareholder in the Nord Stream AG shareholder register.

On December 7, 2007 Gazprom and Gasunie signed an Agreement on sci-tech cooperation.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline is a fundamentally new route of Russian gas exports to Europe. The pipeline will stretch some 1,200 kilometers across the Baltic Sea from the Portovaya Bay (Vyborg) to the German coast (Greifswald).

The new Gryazovets – Vyborg pipeline projected for construction will run through the Vologda and Leningrad Oblasts and connect Nord Stream to the Unified Gas Supply System of Russia.

The linear part of the pipeline will be 917 kilometers long. The pipeline will comprise seven compressor stations: Gryazovetskaya, Sheksninskaya, Babayevskaya, Pikalevskaya, Volkhovskaya, Yelizavetinskaya and Portovaya.

The Portovaya compressor station will be located on the Russian coast of the Baltic Sea in the Portovaya Bay and become a unique element of the gas transmission system with the capacity of 366 MW unprecedented in Russia. State-of-the-art equipment and technologies will be used during construction.

So far, 597 out of 917 kilometers of the linear part have been brought into operation, while construction of the remaining 320-kilometer-long section will be accomplished in December 2010.

Nord Stream AG was set up in December 2005 to perform engineering, construction and operation of the Nord Stream gas trunkline. Nord Stream AG has the following shareholding structure: Gazprom – 51 per cent, Wintershall Holding AG – 20 per cent, E.ON Ruhrgas AG – 20 per cent and Gasunie – 9 per cent.