Germany, which currently produces 13% of its gas demand from domestic reservoirs, could meet this proportion of its energy consumption from unconventional resources for 100 years, German oil and gas producer Wintershall said Tuesday.
"Estimates forecast that Germany could secure the proportion of energy it provides for itself today for another 100 years with unconventional resources such as shale gas -- even by conservative estimates," Wintershall said in a statement.
Wintershall said around 10 billion cubic meters (about 3.5 Tcf) of recoverable natural gas is presumed to exist in a so-called "tight gas" reservoir at a depth of over 4,000 meters in Barnstorf, which the company is looking to develop.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Germany holds an estimated 8 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas resources.
Wintershall, in its statement, also welcomed the German government's current draft regulation to allow the extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
"We are ready to begin the research. But for that we need a reliable framework. We are in favor of amending mining law if the objective is to allow E&P activities in Germany long-term," Wintershall Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors Rainer Seele said.
The energy arm of BASF, Wintershall, which hopes to develop shale oil and gas acreage in Argentina, is also participating in the scientific exploration in two licenses in North Rhine-Westphalia to assess if production could be environmentally friendly and economically viable.
