Germany A home game

Wintershall Dea’s roots lie in Germany – and even after 125 years, the company still runs its global business from there.

More than a 100 years ago, the company focused on mining potash salt.

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Wintershall Dea Germany
Wintershall Dea Germany
Credit
Wintershall Dea/David Hecker

Wintershall Dea’s roots lie in Germany. The company has been active there for more than 100 years. It currently produces from 16 oil fields and around 40 gas fields. Production in Germany is challenging and often only possible at considerable extra cost and effort. That is why production there – with its very high safety and environmental standards – enhances the company’s technological expertise. Its two headquarters are also located in Germany: in Kassel and Hamburg.

Wintershall Dea Quickfact Germany
Wintershall Dea Quickfact Germany
Wintershall Dea Map Germany
Wintershall Dea Map Germany

Where we operate in Germany

Wintershall Dea has focused its activities on the three most important natural gas and crude oil production sites in northern Germany: the Mittelplate crude oil field off the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein, natural gas production in a total of four districts in northwestern Lower Saxony, and oil production in Emlichheim near the German-Dutch border in the west of Lower Saxony.

97%

of the natural gas produced in Germany comes from Lower Saxony.

9,275 m

is how far Dieksand 6, longest German production well, extends into the Mittelplate field.

5,000

rock samples per year are processed at the drill core warehouse in Barnstorf.

Over

260

million barrels of oil have been produced from the Mittelplate field since 1987.

Wintershall Dea Production Site Mittelplate
Wintershall Dea Production Site Mittelplate

In Mittelplate, crude oil has been produced since 1987.

Credit
Wintershall Dea

Mittelplate - Germany’s largest oil field

The Mittelplate field is located in the Wadden Sea. It is Germany’s largest oil field and also produces more oil than any other in the country. Wintershall Dea is the sole shareholder. An artificial drilling and production island was constructed seven kilometres off Friedrichskoog to enable production, while strict environmental and safety standards were developed. Mittelplate is one of the main pillars of crude oil production in Germany: More than 40 million tonnes of oil have been produced from the field.

Emlichheim – A reliable source for more than 70 years

One of the oldest oil fields in Germany is situated in Emlichheim on the Dutch border. The company has been recovering oil there at a consistently high level for more than 70 years – a world record. That is made possible by steam flooding, where hot steam is injected under pressure into the reservoir. The oil trapped in the rock becomes less viscous and flows more easily to the wells. As a result, up to 40 per cent of the oil in the reservoir can be recovered instead of the usual one-third.

Wintershall Dea  Production Site Emlichheim
Wintershall Dea  Production Site Emlichheim

Wintershall Dea has been active in Emlichheim for decades and the horsehead pumps have become a familiar sight.

Credit
Wintershall Dea/Christian Burkert
Gas Production Lower Saxony
Gas Production Lower Saxony

The main operating site of the Gas Nord production facility near Verden (Aller). Six active natural gas production wells and the division’s central office are located on an area covering about 12 football pitches.

Credit
Wintershall Dea/Christel Stock

GAS PRODUCTION LOWER SAXONY

Lower Saxony is the centre of natural gas production in Germany and one of Wintershall Dea’s focus regions. Bötersen, Hemsbünde and Völkersen, the natural gas fields in this federal state, are among the ten most productive in the country. The gas field Völkersen is accounting for about 10 per cent of the total German gas production with Wintershall Dea as the sole shareholder. All natural gas produced here is consumed directly in Lower Saxony.

More information about Wintershall Dea in Germany can be found on our country website