Oil production near Bedernau
Between 1964 and 1995, crude oil was produced in the Unterallgäu district in Gutnachtal between the villages of Bedernau (municipality of Breitenbrunn ), Dietershofen (municipality of Oberschönegg ) and Mittelrieden (municipality of Oberrieden (Swabia) ) .
history
The extraction of crude oil , which lies at a depth of 1500 m below the surface of the earth near Bedernau, began on April 1, 1964. Three years later, in 1967, in addition to the oil, natural gas was found at a depth of 2000 m , which was also produced from this point on.
The oil was transported on the Günzburg – Mindelheim railway from the Breitenbrunn (Schwab) train station to Mindelheim and from there to the refinery in Neustadt an der Donau . In the first few years the oil was brought to Breitenbrunn by tank truck, later a pipeline was laid from the oil deposit to the filling facilities at the station.
The Arlesried oil production company was operated by a consortium made up of Wintershall AG as operator and EMPG (ExxonMobil Production Deutschland GmbH). A total of 1.9 million tons of crude oil and around 360 million cubic meters of natural gas and petroleum gas were extracted at Bedernau. At peak times, 300 to 400 tons of crude oil were produced every day.
In June 1995 the oil and gas production was terminated because the deposit could not be further exhausted with the existing technical possibilities. The methods for further promotion are not profitable because of the comparatively small quantities.
Renewed oil production
In the spring of 2008, the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs issued so-called exploration licenses, which entitle the companies that received these licenses to spend two years in the former oil production area near Bedernau, an area near Kinsau am Lech and in other areas where petroleum is suspected in the Alpine foothills to look for oil. Due to the sharp rise in the price of oil in the spring of 2008 and better opportunities for exploring and extracting the remaining oil as a result of new technologies compared to when the oil production at Bedernau was stopped, it may be worthwhile to re-exploit the deposit there.
Since July 2009 it has been clear that drilling for crude oil is to be started again near Bedernau, and the drilling of an exploration well was started in 2009. The future oil field was named "Bedernau 1", the former production area was named "Arlesried".
Exploratory drilling has been taking place in Bedernau since September 2014 . The drilling takes place to a depth of 1,500 meters.
After the end of oil production - Bedernau natural thermal baths
In addition to a so-called horse head pump as a monument near the Bedernau natural thermal bath, the Bedernau natural thermal bath itself commemorates the oil production in and around Bedernau . All production sites and the operating site in Märxle (municipality of Oberschönegg ) were cleared and renatured at the end of production.
After the end of oil production, the former “Arlesried 22” well was filled to about 500 meters below the surface. From this depth, 29 ° C warm thermal water is pumped, which has fed the Bedernau natural thermal baths since summer 2007 , the construction of which took about two years.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Wintershall website about oil production in Bedernau ( memento from June 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Report of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation on the renewed search for oil in southern Bavaria ( Memento from March 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Report in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung (Mindelheimer Lokalnachrichten) about the renewed oil production near Bedernau; Report dated July 1, 2009, accessed September 3, 2009
- ↑ Press release from Wintershall on Bedernau 1 ( Memento from January 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Report of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation on exploratory drilling now also in Bedernau ( Memento from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Page about the Bedernau natural thermal baths on www.unterallgaeu-aktiv.de