Domestic natural gas production in Germany down 16 percent in 2020

Domestic production of natural gas in Germany fell by almost 16 percent in 2020 year-on-year, show data presented by the federal association of natural gas, petroleum and geo-energy (BVEG). Production fell from 6.1 to 5.2 billion cubic metres, which still covered a good five percent of Germany’s natural gas consumption, said BVEG. The drop in gas production is due to the natural drop in production and maintenance work at the country’s largest natural gas processing plant that lasted several months, according to BVEG. Domestic production of crude oil remained at the previous year’s level at 1.9 million tonnes, the association reports.

Oil remained the most important energy source with a share of 34 percent (35% in 2019), followed by natural gas with 27 percent (25%), according to energy market research group AGEB. Both are being widely used in the transport and heating sectors, and Germany is very dependent on imports of the fuels. Germany is among the world’s biggest natural gas importers and around 94 percent of its gas consumption is met by imports. According to geologists, German fields are nearing depletion. Domestic natural gas production has been falling since 2004 and will likely cease altogether in the course of the 2020s. Renewable energy accounted for almost 17 percent of primary energy consumption in 2020, compared to 14.9 percent in 2019. In terms of power production in Germany, renewable energy sources overtook fossil fuels for the first time in 2020, according to the federal network agency (BNetzA) and the think tank Agora Energiewende. Around 45 percent of Germany’s electricity was produced from wind, solar PV and other renewable sources last year.