Germany's Scholz expects gas extraction project in North Sea to go ahead – media

Germany's Olaf Scholz considers a gas drilling project off the coast of Germany and the Netherlands as likely, as environmentalists continue to push back, the chancellor told radio station ffn, as reported by dpa. "It would be very unlikely to assume that the project will not go ahead," Scholz said, highlighting that both Germany and the Netherlands had granted permits.

The project, which would partly be developed off the island of Borkum by Dutch company One-Dyas, would see natural gas extracted from reserves in the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site. Climate activists have stepped up efforts to block the project by organising protests and taking legal action.

The responsible state authority in Lower Saxony has granted an 18-year licence for the controversial drilling project. However, an agreement between Germany and the Netherlands is still needed before gas extraction can go ahead, according to Augsburger Allgemeine. A German court temporarily banned the construction of an electricity connection needed to power the platform at the beginning of August.

In its coalition agreement from 2021, the government said it would not give permits for new oil and gas extraction projects in the German North Sea. However, the energy crisis laid bare the country's earlier dependence on one supplier – Russia – and spurred a new debate about diversification and supply security.