Wintershall Dea wants to produce more oil in the Wadden Sea

“Substantial investments of more than 100 million euros are necessary for the proposed development of the southern part of the deposit from the existing Mittelplate,” said a company spokesman on Thursday of the German Press Agency. With speedy approval in 2022, the additional funding could start from 2025. “This would allow us to extract another two million tons of oil in Schleswig-Holstein by 2041, an amount that is relevant for the domestic market.”

The company, which is headquartered in Kassel, is ready to develop the southern part of the deposit from Mittelplate within the approved term until 2041, said Michael Sasse. “However, we exclude the construction of further conveyor systems in the Wadden Sea, these are also not required for this.” The refinery in Heide-Hemmingstedt in Schleswig-Holstein is traditionally supplied with the mineral oil from Mittelplate.

In the debate about securing the energy supply after the Russian attack on Ukraine, Schleswig-Holstein’s Energy and Environment Minister Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens) brought up a temporary increase in funding. Due to the statutory protection of the national park, additional quantities can only be approved if an early and fixed end date is set at the same time. On Friday Prime Minister Daniel Gnther (CDU) and Finance Minister Monika Heinold will be speaking in Kiel with Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (both Greens) about energy policy.

Meanwhile, Lower Saxony is considering agreeing to natural gas production near the Wadden Sea after all. Borkum and other North Sea islands view the project critically. “The planned platform of One-Dyas is just too close to the national park,” said Borkum’s mayor Jrgen Akkermann (independent) of the dpa. The Dutch company is currently planning to extract natural gas from a field between the islands of Schiermonnikoog and Borkum and to build a platform at sea for this purpose. The deposit estimates 60 billion cubic meters of recoverable natural gas reserves. Half is located on German sovereign territory.

/akl/DP/mne

HAMBURG (dpa-AFX)

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