Wintershall CEO Meets Norwegian Prime Minister on Growth Plans

Mario Mehren, CEO of Wintershall, Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer, has presented Wintershall’s growth plans in Norway during a visit by Norway's Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, to Berlin.

Mehren announced a further increase in production during a discussion with the Prime Minister and representatives of German energy politics and the energy industry, which was held at the Norwegian Embassy.

"It has become clear during the last few weeks that Wintershall and DEA will become the company Wintershall DEA within the next year. As Europe's leading independent gas and oil producer, we will continue to expand our activities in Norway," said Mehren. "More competition is good for the Norwegian shelf. As Wintershall DEA, we will be one of the driving forces."

Wintershall DEA plans to increase its daily worldwide production from the current total of around 575,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day to 800,000 barrels over the next three to five years. Around a quarter of the production shall then come from Norway.

"In particular our successful exploration activities are making an essential contribution to this. The recoverable reserves from our Nova field are expected to be around 80 million barrels of oil equivalent, while Dvalin (DEA) is estimated to be 115 million barrels. By way of comparison, the average discovery size in Norway has been around 44 million barrels in recent years", explained Mehren.

Once they start production, mainly crude oil will be produced in the Nova field and mainly natural gas in the Dvalin field.

“Norway offers a stable regulatory framework and is an ideal environment for gas and oil industry investments in the search for new discoveries. Of course, this greatly boosts our exploration activities", explained Mehren. Equinor's Aasta Hansteen field, in which Wintershall has a 24% stake, is scheduled to start production soon and will also contribute to Wintershall’s further growth.

"Europe's energy supply is thus secured in the long term – thanks to gas and oil from our partner country Norway," said Mehren.