Bramberge (oil field)

The Bramberge oil field is one of the largest German oil fields. It is located in the area of the village of Osterbrock in the municipality of Geeste in the middle of the Emsland . With an annual production of 71,719 t (2017) it is in 6th place of the oil fields with the highest production in Germany. The oil production depot is located on Klosterholter Straße in Osterbrock. The production wells can be found around and in the village and are now part of everyday life for the population. At times the field was the most productive (in terms of output) in all of Germany.

The oil field

The development of the oil field only began in 1958, which is relatively late for the Emsland fields, and in some cases continues to this day. The field is often referred to as the ideal case of a facies deposit ; the oil is still in the rock that formed it and has not risen into other rocks.

The deposit is located at a depth of 980 m to 580 m below sea level. With a thickness of up to 50 m and an average thickness of 28 m of the oil-bearing layers, they rise from west to east, which explains the great jump in depth of 400 m. At the top, the deposit is closed off by thick layers of clay and is absolutely gas- and watertight.

The promotion has been supported by water injection since 1961 and by gas lifts since 1972.

The extracted oil is pumped via a pipeline that runs along the Dortmund-Ems Canal to the Emsland crude oil refinery a few kilometers away and processed there.

The Twist petroleum and natural gas museum has numerous exhibits that come from there or tell about the oil field.

On the evening of September 23, 2014, a gas explosion occurred near Osterbrock during maintenance work on a well. Four workers suffered severe burns.

advancement

The Bramberge oil field produced the following oil and condensate production:

year	Promotion in tons	Cumulative petroleum (t)
1960	101,843	132.137
1965	506.536	1,900,658
1970	812.723	5,444,407
1980	462,982	11,885,652
1990	270.151	15.091.185
1995	265.259	16,352,531
1996	247.196	16,599,728
1997	258,684	16,858,412
1998	270,666	17.129.078
1999	267.036	17,396,114

year	Promotion in tons	Cumulative petroleum (t)
2000	267,556	17,663,670
2001	247,803	17,911,472
2002	223.213	18.134.685
2003	199,790	18,334,475
2004	197.133	18,531,608
2005	179,314	18.710.922
2006	166,574	18,877,496
2007	151.986	19 029 482
2008	138,229	19.167.711
2009	127.155	19.294.930

year	Promotion in tons	Cumulative petroleum (t)
2010	120,058	19,414,731
2011	114,554	19,529,285
2012	105,335	19,634,620
2013	96.993	19,731,613
2014	90.241	19,821,854
2015	79,897	19,901,750
2016	77,455	19.979.205
2017	71,719	20,050,925