Oil-natural gas Grimmen

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VEB Erdöl-Erdgas Grimmen
VEB Erdöl- und Erdgaserkundung Grimmen
Erdöl-Erdgas Gommern GmbH (EEG)
legal form
founding October 1, 1962
resolution 1994
Reason for dissolution Sale to Gaz de France
Seat Grimmen , Germany
Number of employees
  • about 2,300 at the top
  • 650 (1994)
Branch Oil production

Part of the former production facilities can now be seen in the Reinkenhagen Oil Museum.

The VEB petroleum Grimmen was the largest Erdölerkundungs- and -förderbetrieb in the GDR . The VEB promoted mainly in the area around Reinkenhagen between Greifswald and Stralsund as well as on the island of Usedom and employed around 2,300 people at its peak. The maximum annual output in 1969 was around 350,000 tons of crude oil; In comparison, natural gas only played a minor role as an associated gas .

history

Active conveyor system in the Lütower Revier in 2010.

The Grimmen company was initially established in 1960 as a dependent base of the Gommern petroleum combine , which was responsible for geological exploration in the entire GDR area. In addition to the main plant in Gommern and Grimmen, the combine also included exploration companies in Stendal and Mittenwalde (with branch offices in Groß Briesen near Friedland and Kietz im Oderbruch ) and VEB Erdgasförderung Salzwedel .

In March 1961 the first oil-finding well was carried out near Reinkenhagen ; In the same year, the expansion of the base in the north of Grimmen (today the industrial area Stoltenhäger Straße) and the construction of new apartments in Grimmen-Südwest began. After the start of industrial production in January 1962, the base was made independent as of October 1, 1962 as VEB Erdöl- und Erdgaserkundung Grimmen .

Elevated tank and workshop building of the former Lütow plant in summer 2016

In 1965, the largest oil deposit in the GDR was developed near Lütow on Usedom and mining also started there a year later (see oil production in Lütow ). While the crude oil extracted in Reinkenhagen was transported by rail to Schwedt to the PCK refinery there , it was first transported from Usedom by tanker and later by road tanker.

Up until the mid-1990s, around 400,000 tons of crude oil were produced in Reinkenhagen, and around 1.3 million tons in Lütow. However, the peak of the promotion was reached in 1969 and then fell rapidly. In terms of the economy as a whole, the oil produced in the GDR never played a significant role and could not end the country's dependence on Soviet oil supplies (see Friendship Oil Pipeline ).

In addition to exploration and production wells, the Grimmen company was also responsible for extra-deep research wells. In 1977 the deepest borehole in the GDR (at that time also in Europe) was sunk in Mirow, at 8008.6 meters. In addition, the operation in the 1970s and 1980s committed abroad, such as the RGW several oil fields project "Petrobaltic" before the Polish coast and tapping in Iraq .

Former EEG drilling platforms in the Greifswalder Bodden (2007). Between 1969 and 1971, oil was drilled here without success.

After the turnaround in the GDR , the company was converted into a GmbH on July 2, 1990 , merged with the previously privatized combine company in Gommern and sold to Gaz de France in 1994 . In 1996 the production in Reinkenhagen was stopped. The production operation on Usedom continues to this day at a low level.

Media reception

The circumstances of the first successful drilling near Reinkenhagen were processed by the GDR "state poet" Kurt Barthel (KuBa) in 1964 into a "dramatic poem " with the title "terra incognita" and filmed in 1965 by DEFA under the same title.

literature

  • Förderverein Erdöl & Heimat eV (Hrsg.): Treasure hunters. A chronicle of the Grimmen oil company 1961–1990. Greifswald 2007.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b Grimmen - Oil shaped the region for over three decades. In: Ostsee-Zeitung . May 26, 2015, accessed September 11, 2017 .
  2. Treasure hunters, p. 40.
  3. Company history. Retrieved September 25, 2018 . , Treasure hunter 193ff.
  4. "The Drills" by Groß Briesen , in: Märkische Oderzeitung , August 19, 2009
  5. ^ Treasure hunter 195ff.
  6. 45 years of natural gas production in the Altmark |. Retrieved December 7, 2017 .
  7. Holger Thiel: Extraordinary anniversary: ​​40 years of natural gas from the Altmark. In: Volksstimme .de. Retrieved December 7, 2017 .
  8. By the mid-1980s, the population of Grimmen doubled from 8,000 to around 15,000, treasure hunters p. 36 and 40.
  9. Treasure hunters, p. 34 f.
  10. Oil and natural gas in Germany. Retrieved December 5, 2017 .
  11. ^ A b Martina Rathke: 50 years ago the GDR came across oil. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . March 17, 2011, accessed December 5, 2017 .
  12. a b Ulbricht's drilling: The black gold from the Baltic Sea. MDR , December 15, 2016, accessed December 5, 2017 .
  13. ^ Treasure hunters, p. 181.
  14. Treasure hunters, pp. 150–179.
  15. Gaz de France buys crude oil natural gas Gommern: French promote Altmark gas. In: Berliner Zeitung . May 28, 1994. Retrieved December 6, 2017 .
  16. Film Details: Terra Incognita (1965). In: defa-stiftung.de. Retrieved August 30, 2019 .
  17. Ostfilm - Terra incognita. Retrieved December 5, 2017 .