“The pipeline will be built in the second phase of the Shtokman field development and natural gas will be pumped, including by the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP),” CEO of the state-owned giant Alexei Miller said.

Miller said the Yuzhno-Russkoye deposit in northern Russia, which had been chosen as the main source of natural gas to be pumped by the NEGP, would provide the necessary amount of gas, RIA Novosti reported.

Valery Golubev, head of Gazkomplektimpeks, Gazprom’s subsidiary that supplies material and equipment for natural gas and oil facilities under construction, said two legs would be built to pump gas from Yuzhno-Russkoye to Vyborg on Russia’s Baltic coast, where the Baltic pipeline will begin.

Golubev said that if a decision was made to pump natural gas via the NEGP from Shtokman, with estimated reserves of 3.2 trillion cu m of gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate, two legs would connect the deposit to Vyborg.

Production at Shtokman will begin in 2010 and achieve its full capacity in 2011-2012 and liquefied natural gas (25%) will be delivered to the United States and Europe.

The project is estimated at $10 billion.