Germany agrees to joint gas extraction project with the Netherlands in Wadden Sea

The German government has greenlit a project with the Netherlands to exploit natural gas resources in the North Sea. The agreement implements a proposal from the coalition treaty between the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) to tap into the potential of domestic gas extraction, said the economy ministry in a statement.

The Dutch government had already given consent for the project which has been criticised for its impact on the ecologically sensitive Wadden Sea region.“We support the Netherlands in extracting from the cross-border gas deposit,” said CDU economy minister Katherina Reiche.

The project would strengthen the entire European gas market, Reiche argued. The agreement would put the project, carried out by Dutch company One Dyas, on safe legal footing. According to the economy ministry, One Dyas will use electricity from a German offshore wind farm to minimise the CO2 emissions from extraction operations, and it will only exploit the deposit as long as there is demand from Germany and the Netherlands to comply with climate neutrality ambitions.

NGO Environmental Action Germany (DUH) criticised the step, arguing it had been taken despite sizable protests against the project near the island of Borkum. DUH said that risks such as an accident on the extraction site or resulting greenhouse gas emissions had been ignored “as a gift to the fossil industry.” Reef structures and endangered species are also at risk from the project, the NGO said.

DUH head Sascha Müller-Kraenner remarked that the decision came one day after economy minister Katherina Reiche had lowered Germany’s gas supply alert to the lowest level. “[The governing coalition parties] the CDU/CSU and the SPD want to create a fait accompli – despite an ongoing lawsuit against gas drilling off Borkum,” Müller-Kraenner said. The previous government had not signed off on the project due to legal uncertainties, the NGO head argued.