BRUSSELS, September 8 (RIA Novosti, Alexander Shishlo) - The European Commission welcomes the agreement on the construction of the North European gas pipeline signed by the Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom and German concerns, said Rupert Krietemeyer, a spokesman for the EC's public relations department.
Krietemeyer said Russia was the biggest gas supplier to Western Europe.
The construction will start in fall 2005 and will be completed in 2010. The gas pipeline will be laid via the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany with a capacity of 55 billion cubic meters annually and worth about 2 billion euros.
The main raw materials base for gas deliveries to the North European gas pipeline will be the Yuzhno-Russkoye deposit in Yamal, a peninsula in Western Siberia.
