Exxon, Others to Explore for Unconventional Gas in Germany

Germany's most populous state, North-Rhine Westphalia, home to mining and utilities, has awarded exploration licences to ExxonMobil and nine other firms to search for unconventional gas, a newspaper said on Wednesday.

The state's economy minister, Harry Voigtsberger, in a reply to a Green Party query in the state parliament confirmed that  huge areas might be explored by the companies, centering on the north Muensterland region, said the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ).

The report said some of the other companies were from Australia and Canada, and that ExxonMobil was preparing to start drilling in Borken, Steinfurt and Nordwalde in the short term.

An economics ministry spokeswoman in Duesseldorf said that companies had secured licences for exploratory drilling of coal bed methane, without naming the companies. It was unclear whether and when drilling would take place, she said.

The applications had been made to the Arnsberg district government, she said.

Exploration technology, particularly for commodities such as shale gas, has improved dramatically in recent years, making the hunt for new resources cheaper and more promising.

Germany has said it would like to reduce reliance on Russia, which supplies more than 40 percent of its gas. Russia has been involved in political and transit disputes with countries along pipeline routes, such as Ukraine, several times in recent years.

The ministry spokeswoman added that there were geological formations in the state that could hold potential, but drilling in 2008 by the Aachen Technical University had not brought positive results.

Local newspaper Borkener Zeitung in its online edition said there were some local population concerns over whether new drilling technologies for gas could take away water resources needed for agriculture.

Source: Reuters