OREANDA-NEWS. August 22, 2011. The so-called “Golden Weld” – the final weld connecting its offshore and onshore parts – was completed on the first of Nord Stream’s twin pipelines today. The “Golden Weld” thus links the Russian landfall in Portovaya Bay with the pipeline across the Baltic Sea. In the coming days, Line 1 will be ready to be filled with gas, followed by the start of supplies to Europe planned for the fourth quarter.

The construction work began just over 16 months ago, in April 2010, and the construction of landfall facilities in Russia and Germany and pipe laying over 1,224 kilometres across the Baltic Sea have now been completed. “A large-scale and interesting construction project has thus been completed,” said Nord Stream’s Technical Director Sergey Serdyukov. “In addition, half of Line 2 (600 km) has already been laid and is scheduled for completion at the end of 2012. Such a rapid pace of construction gives us every reason to expect that we will meet at the Russian landfall for the ‘Golden Weld’ for the second line within a year”.

The first of Nord Stream’s twin pipelines will be connected to the European gas grid at the German landfall in the next few days, providing a fixed link between the European gas grid and some of the world’s largest gas reserves in Russia.

Pressure testing on Line 1 has been successfully completed and the results have confirmed the readiness of the pipeline for secure operation during the next 50 years. Nord Stream is a state-of-the-art high-quality pipeline and an important contribution to long-term security of gas supplies to EU.