Germany’s domestic oil production fell 5.6% to 1.7 million tonnes in 2022 while gas output was down 7.7% at 4.8 billion cubic metres (bcm), industry association BVEG said on Tuesday.
BVEG groups 77 companies involved in producing what is left of German gas and oil reserves, including Neptune Energy, Vermilion Energy VET.TO, Wintershall Dea WINT.ULBASFn.DE and BEB, a joint venture of ExxonMobil XOM.N and Shell SHEL.L.
The companies achieved turnover of 5 billion euros ($5.48 billion) from their German activities, up from 1.9 billion euros a year earlier, reflecting higher market prices, BVEG said.
Production of oil in Germany peaked in the 1960s and in the 1990s. Since then, reserves have fallen, making the country dependent on imports and exposing it to supply politics in relation to Russia.
BVEG Managing Director Ludwig Moehring said domestic gas and oil output should be maximised to reduce dependency on prices and supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from theglobal market
Germany last year sourced about 5.5% of its gas demand and 2% of its oil demand from domestic sources and about 2% of its oil demand, BVEG said, citing official data.
Germany has 22.9 billion cubic metres of underground gas storage, which equated to 26% of annual consumption in 2022.
Globally, German storage capacity is the fourth-highest behind the United States, Russia and Ukraine.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Vera Eckert Editing by Friederike Heine and David Goodman)