Europe / Caspian / CIS
Country profile: Germany
Location: | Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark |
Climate: | temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm mountain (foehn) wind |
Terrain: | lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south |
Size: | 357021 sq. km total (Land area: 349223 sq. km Water area: 7798 sq.km) |
Population: | 82,369,548 (July 2008 est.) |
Languages: | German |
Government: | federal republic |
Capital city: | Berlin |
Legal system: | civil law system with indigenous concepts; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Constitutional Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction |
Currency: | euro (EUR) |
Licensing: |
Country profile
Germany has one of the largest economies in the world, with a 2005 nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.8 trillion. In recent years, economic growth has resumed, after GDP contracted by 0.2 percent in 2003. However, high unemployment and sluggish domestic demand continue to dampen economic growth. Owning to its large economy, Germany is one of the world’s largest energy consumers. In 2004, the country consumed 14.7 quadrillion British Thermal Units (Btu) of total energy, the fifth-largest amount in the world.
Besides coal, Germany does not possess any sizable hydrocarbon reserves, so the country must rely upon imports to meet the majority of its energy needs. The lack of domestic hydrocarbon resources has led Germany to become a world leader in the development of renewable energy technologies, with the country becoming the world’s largest producer of biodiesel and generator of electricity from wind.
As Europe's largest economy and second most populous nation, Germany is a key member of the continent's economic, political, and defense organizations. European power struggles immersed Germany in two devastating World Wars in the first half of the 20th century and left the country occupied by the victorious Allied powers of the US, UK, France, and the Soviet Union in 1945. With the advent of the Cold War, two German states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security organizations, the EC, which became the EU, and NATO, while the Communist GDR was on the front line of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. The decline of the USSR and the end of the Cold War allowed for German unification in 1990. Since then, Germany has expended considerable funds to bring Eastern productivity and wages up to Western standards. In January 1999, Germany and 10 other EU countries introduced a common European exchange currency, the euro.
Energy production and consumption
Oil | Gas | |
Production: | 141,700 bbl/day (2005) | 19 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Consumption: | 2 million bbl/day (2005 est.) | 96 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Exports: | 518,700 bbl/day (2004) | 9 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Imports: | 2 million bbl/day (2004) | 86 billion cu m (2005 est.) |
Reserves: | 367 million bbl (1 January 2006 est.) | 246 billion cu m (1 January 2006 est.) |
Major fields: |
Germany - recent news
13 May 24 |
Germany: First wind turbine installed at Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm The first of a total of fifty wind turbines has been successfully installed at the 476 MW Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm, a joint venture between Iberdrola, a world leading clean energy company, and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company – Masdar, the UAE’s clean energy powerhouse. The Baltic Eagle offshore wind farm is an important part of Iberdrola's 'Baltic Hub' in the German Baltic Sea. |
08 May 24 |
Germany: Ørsted offshore wind farm Gode Wind 3 generates first power The first of a total of 23 turbines has been successfully installed at the Gode Wind 3 offshore wind farm. The most powerful and largest turbine in German waters is now feeding electricity into the transmission grid. A new milestone for the German offshore wind industry. |
07 May 24 |
Germany: TGS launches multi-client wind and metocean measurement campaign offshore Germany TGS has announced the commencement of its latest multi-client wind measurement campaign using two LiDAR buoys offshore Germany in the North Sea. The collected data is streamed to shore and used to enhance decision-making to support several current and future wind lease rounds in the German Bight. |
29 Apr 24 |
Germany: Beacon Energy announces Erfelden operational update AIM-listed Beacon Energy, the full-cycle oil and gas company with a portfolio of onshore German assets through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Rhein Petroleum, has announced that the drilling rig for the SCHB2 sidetrack has been released by the previous operator and will shortly commence mobilisation to the Erfelden site. |
24 Apr 24 |
Germany/France: Volue extends its partnership with Iberdrola to provide power scheduling and algo trading in the German and French energy markets Volue, a leader in technologies and services that enable its customers to succeed in the energy transition, has signed a deal to provide the Spanish energy giant, Iberdrola, with two of its energy trading solutions: DeltaXE and Volue Algo Trader Power. |
Germany - more news
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