The Wisselshorst Z1 drilling site has existed between the towns of Bomlitz and Kroge for over 20 years. Although natural gas was drilled there, production never started. Now a new attempt is to be started from the existing drilling site. The energy company Vermilion Energy, which is active in gas and oil production in Lower Saxony, acquired the rights at the beginning of 2016 to search for natural gas in the Heidekreis region and, if successful, to produce it.
“Natural gas has already been encountered in the Wisselshorst Z1 well, so it makes sense to use the existing Wisselshorst well site to penetrate into promising areas from there. With the expected production volumes, around 100,000 households could be supplied with natural gas every year,” says Dr. Jürgen Rückheim, General Representative of Vermilion.
Various official permits are currently still required for the planned project, which are expected in the course of this year. In the first step, the drilling site will be prepared using state-of-the-art technology for the drilling work planned for autumn. This work is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
Vermilion would like to inform the neighbors in the Heidekreis about the project at this early stage. Therefore there is a public information event:
Date and time: January 24, 2023, 6:00 p.m
Venue: Stadthalle Walsrode, Robert-Koch-Strasse 1, 29664 Walsrode
Here information is provided about the different project contents, for example the target schedule, the technologies used for exploring and extracting natural gas, and the approval procedures. In addition, Vermilion will take a stand at the event on sensitive issues such as the risk of earthquakes, environmental pollution or an increased risk of cancer in the vicinity of natural gas production sites.
“People in the region have lived close to natural gas production for decades and can expect their concerns to be taken seriously. We would therefore like to explain and talk about supposed risks and the publicly discussed topics. The event on January 24th is a current opportunity to find out more personally,” says Dr. return home
Various experts from Vermilion Energy will also be available at the information event for questions and personal exchange.
Vermillion Energy Germany, since 2021 operator in the “Wietze-Osterheide I” permit field, is planning a production well to resume natural gas production from the Osterheide natural gas reservoir. It is a new well drilled from the existing Osterheide Z1 site. The well is being drilled into an area of the deposit that has not yet been developed. If all the permits are in place, the field will be upgraded and prepared for drilling work between January and March 2023. The exploratory drilling could start in late summer 2023 and is expected to last a little over four months.
The “Wietze-Osterheide I” permit field is located in the north-eastern area of the municipality of Wietzendorf. The Osterheide drilling site has existed since 1997. The operator at the time, RWE-DEA, started production in 1999 and ended it in 2002. When Vermilion Energy took over the rights for the “Wietze-Osterheide I” permit field in January 2021, production from the Osterheide Z1 well was already suspended and has not been resumed since. The new drilling project, which will be conducted from the same drilling site as a diversionary borehole into a neighboring underground area and therefore does not require any new infrastructure, is appropriately named Osterheide Z2.
In all activities, Vermilion works with very high standards and under strict conditions in relation to the protection of people and the environment.
(Unless otherwise noted, references on this website to “Vermilion”, or “the Company”, or “we”, or “our” collectively refer herein to any or all of the people and operations associated with Vermilion Energy Inc. and/or its subsidiaries including its German subsidiary Vermilion Energy Germany GmbH & Co. KG whose operations and activities are the focus of this website)
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