According to Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Germany had 367 million barrels of proven oil reserves in January 2006. Most of these reserves are located in northern and northeastern Germany. The country produced 170,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil in 2005, of which 67,000 bbl/d (39 percent) was crude oil. Over one-half of Germany’s crude oil production comes from a single field, Mittelplate, located in tidal flatlands in the North Sea. Mittelplate is a joint project of German oil and gas companies RWE and Wintershall AG.

Germany is the fifth-largest consumer of oil in the world, with consumption reaching 2.7 million bbl/d in 2004. Due to the size of the German economy and the lack of significant domestic oil production, Germany is also one of the world’s largest oil importers. The country relies upon imports for over 90 percent of its crude oil demand. According to Eurostat, Germany imported 2.1 million bbl/d of crude oil during the first seven months of 2006, slightly lower than the same period in 2005; most imports came from Russia (34 percent), followed by Norway (16 percent), the United Kingdom (12 percent), and Libya (12 percent). Germany also imports large amounts of refined petroleum products.

Germany has several large pipeline systems that deliver crude oil from import terminals along its northern coastline to inland refineries. The 440-mile Minveraloelverbungleitung (MVL) connects the cities of Rostock, Schwedt, and Spergau in eastern Germany. Majority-owned by France’s Total, MVL supplies oil refineries in Schwedt and Spergau with crude oil from an oil terminal at Rostock, with a capacity of 380,000 bbl/d. MVL also connects with the Druzhba crude oil pipeline (600,000 bbl/d) from Russia at the Poland-Germany border, near Schwedt.

The Norddeutsche Oelleitung (NDO) crude oil pipeline in northern Germany connects an oil terminal and refinery in Hamburg with an oil terminal in Wilhelmshaven. The 90-mile NDO has a capacity of 150,000 bbl/d. Another crude oil pipeline, the 240-mile, 300,000-bbl/d Nord-West Oelleitung (NWO), connects Wilhelmshaven with Wesseling, near Cologne, supplying oil refineries in the area.

The Transalpine Oelleitung (TAL) connects oil refineries and storage facilities in southern Germany with Trieste, Italy. The system has two principle components: the 290-mile, 40-inch TAL-IG, which links Trieste with Ingolstadt, Bavaria; and the 140-mile, 26-inch TAL-OR, which links Ingolstadt to Karlsruhe, near the Germany-France border. The TAL system had an average throughput of 690,000 bbl/d in 2004. Another crude oil pipeline, the Central European Line (CEL), also used to connect Italy with Germany, and runs from Genoa to Ingolstadt. However, rising costs, environmental issues, and competition from the TAL forced the closure of the CEL in 1997. The line was subsequently converted to carry natural gas, and is now owned by E.ON-Ruhrgas and Bayerngas.

The Suedeuropauische Oelleitung (SPSE) connects the oil import terminals of Fos-su-Mer/Lavera, France to Karlsruhe, supplying several refineries in the area. A consortium of international oil companies owns the 480-mile, 670,000 bbl/d SPSE. Finally, Germany imports crude oil from the Netherlands via the Rotterdam-Rhein Pipeline (RRP), connecting Rotterdam with Wessling. The RRP is 200 miles long and has a capacity of 690,000 bbl/d.

According to OGJ, Germany had 2.4 million bbl/d of crude oil refining capacity in 2005, spread amongst fourteen facilities. The largest refinery is the 346,000-bbl/d Rheinland plant operated by Deutsche Shell, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. Other major facilities in the country include the 302,000 Karlsruhe refinery, 270,000-bbl/d Gelsenkirchen facililty (jointly owned by BP and Venezuelan state oil company PdVSA) and Total’s 225,000-bbl/d Spergau facility. About half of the refineries in Germany are joint ventures between several oil companies, while the others are wholly-owned by a single company.

Germany is the world’s largest producer of biodiesel, According to the European Biodiesel Board, Germany produced an estimated 33,000 bbl/d of biodiesel in 2005, or half of the total biodiesel production in the EU. Germany’s biodiesel industry association expects that production in the country will grown by 20-30 percent a year, backed by strong demand and new government requirements for blending biodiesel with conventional diesel fuel that will come into law in 2007. One of the principle drivers of biodiesel demand in Germany is the fact that it is exempt from excise taxes levied on conventional diesel sales; however, in 2006, the German government enacted a nine Eurocent per liter ($0.46 per gallon) tax on biodiesel fuels and planned to eventual increase the tax to the same level applied to conventional diesel by 2012.