Minister of Economy Habeck says drilling for gas in Borkum is "not necessary"
The Dutch company One Dyas plans to install a gas production platform in Dutch territorial waters. Drilling operations will partially take place in German territorial waters. The Lower Saxony State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology (LBEG), responsible for the relevant environmental assessments, has no objections.
According to the authority, the planned drillings will take place at depths of 1500 to 4000 meters below the seabed and will not reach protected areas. Neither the residents of the North Frisian Islands and the mainland nor the Wadden Sea protected area will be affected. The authority also referred to Germany's gas demand and the fact that imported gas has a worse climate balance.
However, an intergovernmental agreement with the Netherlands is still needed to actually produce gas, for which the Federal Ministry of Economics is responsible. A swift signing is apparently not planned, as Habeck hinted. Lawsuits against the drillings are to be expected, and the federal government will wait for the relevant court rulings, he told "Der Spiegel".
The plans to extract natural gas at the Dutch-German border in the North Sea have existed for years but are highly controversial and had largely been shelved before the Russian attack on Ukraine.
Theintergovernmental agreement for gas production is necessary, but a swift signing is not planned, as Habeck mentioned. Despite the objections raised in lawsuits, the federal government will wait for the relevant court rulings before making a decision.
