The Lower Saxony Ministry of Economic Affairs has agreed with the Dutch company One-Dyas on key points for the production of natural gas off the German North Sea coast.

Last year, the red-black state government in Hanover opposed the project, but in view of the Russian aggression in Europe, it is now likely to reverse the trend.

In the next two weeks, the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) is to make a political decision, which will then be approved by the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology.

Reinhard Bingener

Political correspondent for Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Bremen based in Hanover.

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The natural gas field is around 20 kilometers off the island of Borkum in the Dutch-German border area.

One-Dyas discovered field N05-A there in 2017.

The Company believes it is likely that additional natural gas deposits will be developed in the area.

Overall, the company puts the production volume in the area of ​​the so-called "GEMS" project at around 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which is divided equally between Dutch and German territory.

Germany currently consumes around 100 billion cubic meters annually, around 55 of which come from Russia.

Lower Saxony's Economics Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) said on Wednesday that the gas promoted on the German side should be made available to the German market and only promoted for as long as there is a domestic need for it.

Funding could start in 2024 at the earliest, before that a platform has to be built that will draw its electricity from the nearby Riffgat offshore wind farm.

criticism from the Greens

The opposition Greens and environmental groups are opposed to the project.

The production volume is "far too insignificant and would come far too late to quickly solve the dependency on Russian gas," said Christian Meyer, a member of the Green Party.

Such offshore drilling could replace at most 3.5 percent of current natural gas supplies from Russia each year.

The envisaged funding also contradicts the climate protection goals of the state government and the coalition agreement of the traffic light parties at federal level and threatens to cement fossil dependence for decades.

The Bund für Umwelt- und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) criticized that new funding projects in the North Sea also threatened the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site.

There are "incalculable risks" such as a possible escape of pollutants, earthquakes and a subsidence of the seabed.

FDP praises "overdue" step

The opposition FDP, on the other hand, praised the state government's change of course as "overdue".

It will still take decades for the complete transition to renewable energies, and every effort must be made to become independent of Russian gas, said FDP parliamentary group leader Stefan Birkner.

After the CDU, the SPD must now also back the project in the North Sea.

From the State Chancellery it is said that Prime Minister Weil (SPD) is fundamentally open to the project.

In the background there is also the consideration that given the German desire for more Dutch natural gas, such projects can hardly be rejected.