Brussels, 09/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - At a ceremony attended by several European leaders, like Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, French trade minister Anne Marie Idrac, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (by video), EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (who is chairing the construction consortium), the building work for the 1,223 km Nord Stream gas pipeline got underway on Friday 9 April in Portovaya Bay near Saint Petersburg in Russia. Nord Stream will connect Germany with Russia under the Baltic Sea, running from Greifswald to Vyborg, and when fully operational, some 55 billion cubic metres of gas from Russia will pass through it on its way to the EU. The first section of the pipeline is due to be up and running in May 2011 and the second section in 2012. The project is estimated to cost some €7.4 billion in total and is highly controversial (see EUROPE 9863). The pipeline is being built by Russian gas company Gazprom (51%), German electricity companies Wintershall (20%) and RWE (20%) and Dutch gas company Gasunie (9%). Nord Stream is not receiving any financial aid from the EU. (E.H./transl.fl)