Did you know how big a role oil plays in your daily life?
About a sixth of the oil consumed in Germany is needed by the chemicals industry alone. A good eighteen million tons of crude oil a year are currently processed into synthetic materials.

Natural gas is used primarily for heating and for generating electricity – and because of its low CO₂ emissions compared to other fossil fuels, this is a growing trend. But natural as is also becoming increasingly important as a raw material for the chemicals industry. The propylene extracted from petroleum, for example, can also be obtained from propane – thanks to innovative new dehydration technologies. There are many promising alternatives for the future in this field.

Crude oil is still the most important raw material of the industrialized nations. A world without this raw material is unimaginable: it can generate heat and drive machines. It is a fuel for vehicles and airplanes. Elements of crude oil are used to manufacture nearly all chemical products, e.g. plastics, detergents, paints but also medicines. The world needs almost 14 billion liters of crude oil every day.

Natural gas has the best ecological performance among the fossil fuels. For example, during the combustion of natural gas 25 % fewer greenhouse gases are emitted than with oil and up to 35 % less than with coal. Natural gas does not contain any aromatic hydrocarbons and a lot less sulfur.

It is also practically dust-free. The more wide-spread use of natural gas instead of other fossil fuels has made a substantial contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions in the last few years.

Germany is where it all began for Wintershall. Traditionally, this has been the center of the company’s activities. Around 40 percent of the crude oil produced in Germany is produced by Wintershall. The proportion of crude oil produced in Germany compared to overall consumption is relatively low - domestic production of about three million tons covers just three percent of demand in Germany - but any production on one's own doorstep, so to speak, enhances supply security.

And domestic production also offers a competitive advantage: compared to production sites abroad, production in Germany is technologically more demanding and often only possible with considerable additional expenditure and special techniques. That enhances the company's technical competence and this know-how is also applied to international projects.

Wintershall is venturing down new paths for its oil production in northern Germany: thanks to technical modifications, gas that could not previously be used efficiently is being harnessed to generate electricity and steam. A block-type thermal power unit and two combined heat and power stations form the backbone of the company’s electricity generation, with which Wintershall can meet the electricity needs of all its operations in Germany. That saves 5 % of the annual operating costs. 



We use the excess heat at temperatures of more than 500 degrees Celsius generated during gas combustion as a by-product of electricity production – and which usually gets lost in conventional plants – in Emlichheim to generate more than 100,000 tons of steam a year for steam flooding technology. This way energy is used twice and electricity purchases are reduced significantly. The CO₂ emissions saved in this process equal about 25% of the overall emissions released by Wintershall’s production operations in Germany – that is good for the environment.

For some the oil deposits are half empty, but for Wintershall they are still half full: That’s why Germany’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer is constantly developing its innovations in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). For example, the company has been producing crude oil in Emlichheim, one of the oldest deposits in Germany, for more than 60 years. For 25 years it has been applying natural steam flooding technology which makes it possible to mobilize the oil trapped in the deposit. This is how the company has managed to maintain production at a consistently high level for decades. In addition, in the coming years the company plans to further increase production by combining this technology with horizontal drilling.

On average only a third of the deposits in oil fields worldwide is recovered and the rest of the oil remains embedded in the rock pores. Our goal is to increase the recovery rate of a deposit to up 50 percent. Bearing in mind that this technology can also be applied to extend the life of larger international reservoirs, it signifies great potential. A global increase in the recovery factor by just one percent increases the lifetime of the worlds’ reserves by one year!

Invisible safety nets: the 2,700 kilometer-long pipeline network of the subsidiaries GASCADE Gastransport GmbH and OPAL NEL TRANSPORT connects the major gas reserves in Siberia and the natural gas in the North Sea with the growing sales markets in Western Europe. It is therefore connected to the largest natural gas reserves in the world and transports many billion cubic meters of natural gas every year – what’s more, you don’t even know it’s there. For the pipes made of special steel and coated in the plastic polyethylene (PE) lie at least one meter deep – protected from the elements and other harmful influences.




The Nord Stream pipeline is over 1,200 kilometers long and connects Europe to the major natural gas reserves in Siberia via the Baltic Sea bed. It will supply 55 billion cubic meters of gas a year with its two lines. Just one of these two pipelines is enough to replace the existing seventeen nuclear power plants in Germany. South Stream is set to bring supply security to the south-east European EU member states from 2015 at the earliest with gas, the partner energy for renewables. The pipeline will mostly run along the bed of the Caspian Sea. 

Natural gas enables intelligent and flexible networks, it supports the use of renewable energies and strengthens the position of regional suppliers. In short, it promotes a non-central energy supply. As such natural gas can stimulate the German and European electricity market, and together with the utility companies provide unparalleled competitive stimulus with electricity generation independent of the major energy corporations. Such stimulus is a pre-condition of a secure and affordable energy supply for industry and consumers.

In the WINGAS natural gas compressor station in Mallnow (near Frankfurt/Oder), the waste heat of the three existing gas turbines is used to drive a new steam turbine. This way the company saves expensive drive energy, makes use of state-of-the-art technology and reduces CO₂ emissions. 
A duct with a diameter of around four meters takes the exhaust gases of the gas turbines to a waste-heat recovery boiler. This boiler generates the steam that drives the new turbine. Afterwards, the used steam is cooled and liquefied in a closed cycle. The water is reused to generate more steam. The steam turbine generates an output of up to 20 megawatts. 

The Mallnow station near the German-Polish border is one of the most important import stations for natural gas in Western Europe. This is where much of the Russian gas deliveries arrive. The gas loses pressure as it travels several thousand kilometers to the end customers. 

A raw material for regenerative energy production: until 2035 half of the world’s energy requirements will continue to be covered by raw materials such as crude oil and natural gas. The crude oil we produce is not just a fuel and a source of heat; it also helps pave the way to our future energy supply, for crude oil is the basic raw material for manufacturing key components needed for regenerative energy production, for example for solar power plants. One of the oldest sealants based on crude oil, bitumen, is used for building hydropower or pumped storage power plants.

Gas requires a certain pressure in order to flow in sufficient quantities and at an adequate speed through the underground pipes. However, during its transportation through the pipes the natural gas loses pressure. This is caused by the internal friction of the gas molecules in the flow as well as the external friction of the gas flow against the inner walls of the pipes. To provide it with drive power, the gas has to be compensated for this loss between entry and exit pressure in one of the gas compressor stations. 
 
The compressors, situated at approximately 200-kilometer intervals, increase the gas pressure again to a level of around 95 to 100 bar. Compare this to the pressure in a car tire, which is around two bars.



So how does this work?

Turbo compressors are installed for this purpose: several impellers are arranged behind one another on a shaft in a solid steel housing, and rotate at a speed of between 3,850 and 10,900 revolutions per minute. This brings the molecules of the inflowing gas up to a high speed, throws them outwards into flow channels, and thus presses them tighter together, which increases the gas pressure.

The Italian pipe-laying ship "Castoro Sei" is one of the newest and most modern pipe-laying ships in the world and capable of laying pipelines on the high seas. All the working processes are summarized here as effectively as possible. The video animation gives an impressive overview of how many steps are necessary for a new crude oil or natural gas pipeline to be laid on the sea bed safely.




© Copyright Saipem Ltd. / Eni

The WINGAS eco-gas portfolio is complemented by biogas. WINGAS works together with farmers who supply WINGAS on the basis of long-term supply agreements. Adding biogas enhances the excellent CO₂ performance of natural gas even more. WINGAS also supports municipal utilities by purchasing and trading biogas.

Using biomass as a form of energy is an important part of the future energy supply and is continuing to gain in importance. The German government has set the target of feeding six billion cubic meters of biogas into the German natural gas grid every year by 2020.

Tomorrow’s society is and will remain highly mobile: natural gas can quickly help to make the transport sector more climate-friendly and to reduce CO2 emissions even further.  This technology is namely already ready to go into production.


However, at the moment natural gas powered vehicles are really only financially worthwhile for the public sector and commercial customers. For the regular man on the street this natural gas technology only becomes appealing after a certain amount of kilometers because of the high initial purchase costs. Yet few realize that natural gas is the cheapest fuel.

The considerable fluctuations in the volume of renewable energy fed into the grid require complementary technology which can respond quickly and flexibly to demand. In this regard natural gas powered facilities are far superior to conventional base load power stations. Combined cycle power plants are among the most efficient conventional power stations. Together with co-generation they achieve efficiency rates of 90 %.

The use of natural gas for electricity generation in Europe has already risen in the last ten years from 100 to 150 billion cubic meters of gas. And the current Greenpeace study “Natural gas: a bridge into the renewable era” calls for use of this technology to be expanded systematically. Natural gas also has great potential in the field of mobility and transport. On the heating market natural gas already offers the most efficient solutions, especially the combination of condensing boilers with solar technology and with distributed energy resources with micro-CHP plants.

Since October 2010 Wintershall subsidiary WINGAS has offered CO²-neutral natural gas, so-called eco-gas. Eco-gas customers can offset their entire greenhouse gas emissions generated by the combustion of natural gas. The emissions are offset with CO₂ savings from climate protection projects. The selection of the projects is based on strict international quality standards such as the Gold Standard, which is also supported by environmental organizations such as the WWF. The certificates, which are also recognized and verified by independent bodies such as the UN climate secretariat in Bonn, are bought by WINGAS and then removed from the market and annulled.

The emissions-reducing processes are all regularly monitored by recognized organizations such as the German Technical Inspection Agency (TÜV). Alongside selected geothermal and wind projects that generate renewable energies, the company also supports new technology applications that avoid emissions.

The offshore production of oil and gas also has bright prospects – thanks to modern 3D seismic exploration methods and more precise computer simulations of the deposits. Norway and Russia play a pivotal role for future energy supplies to Europe because of the large oil and gas reserves and the existing links to the markets of Western Europe.


Wintershall has working interests in six of the twelve biggest oil discoveries made in Norway in the past five years. The continental shelf still holds considerable potential for us to tap into. But we also have activities in the Dutch, Danish, and British sectors of the North Sea, where we have made new oil and gas discoveries. About 50 percent of the natural gas consumed in Europe comes from the countries bordering the North Sea.

The North Sea could become home to offshore wind energy farms with a combined generating capacity as high as 135 GW by 2030 according to a study conducted as part of an international project chaired by the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands and with the participation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The study provides recommendations for policy-makers on how best to expand wind power capacity in the North Sea and ensure compatibility with the other uses of the North Sea.

The same principle applies to wind power: there is no electricity without crude oil. A wind turbine is composed of 45 % crude oil and products from the petrochemical industry. For example one blade of a wind turbine – with large wind turbines this can be up to 30 to meters long – contains up to 12,000 kilograms of petrochemical products. And without suitable lubricants the windmills would remain motionless. A wind turbine needs 500 to 600 liters of lubricating oil to stay in motion.

One of Wintershall’s visionary inventions is the Center for Remote Controlled Operations (RCO) in The Hague (the Netherlands): since 2007, a radio control system there has been monitoring the production operations of 19 of the 26 offshore platforms Wintershall operates in the southern sector of the North Sea.

This also ensures that production from the Dutch offshore reserves is commercially viable in the future too. As well as significant savings in areas such as material procurement, maintenance, preparation work, personnel deployment planning, and logistics, the number of flights to the respective platforms was reduced, thus further enhancing employee safety.