The Swedish government requested extra info on Nord Stream

Nord Stream AG has examined responses to earlier provided information from the Swedish authorities and three of them, including the Swedish Coast Guard, have been positive, while replies from a number of other authorities contain requests for additional information, the statement said.

"Nord Stream will carefully consider each question and will then provide further information. It also looks forward with confidence to a continued dialogue in the spring with the general public, both in Sweden and in other countries around the Baltic Sea," the statement said.

Baltic countries earlier voiced concerns over the pipeline project, and called for a detailed study of its environmental consequences.

The project operator also said that it had carried out comprehensive environmental studies and planning worth 100 million euros ($130 million) "to find any opportunity to reduce and mitigate environmental impacts."

The ambitious pipeline project is being developed by Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom and Germany's E.ON and BASF at an estimated cost of $12 billion.

The first stage of the project, with a transport capacity of some 27.5 billion cubic meters per year, is expected to go online in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Author: Ksenia Kochneva