Estonia refuses Nord Stream request

The Estonian government has refused a request by the Russian-German consortium Nord Stream for permission to conduct a survey of the seabed lining Estonia's coast. This effectively rules out the possibility of a route that would take the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea through Estonian territorial waters. Raimo Ülavere questions whether the decision was not premature: "What did Estonia have to lose by saying: yes, we'll grant permission for the survey, but only on the condition that there is no drilling and that our territorial rights are not violated? And more importantly we demand that Estonia be allowed to carry out the survey itself and then present the results to Nord Stream. This would have put us in control of the data and the situation."

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