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
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. |
16 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 mobilisation of the drilling rig for the SCHB2 side track, which had originally been scheduled for mid-April, has been delayed by approximately two weeks. |
10 Apr 24 |
Germany: RWE connects Lengerich wind turbine to grid after successful repowering RWE has successfully completed the modernisation of its wind turbine in Lengerich. In a process known as repowering, the old 1.8 megawatt (MW) turbine was replaced by a more powerful one. The new 5.7 MW turbine at the Emsland location in north-west Germany now supplies around 4,000 instead of 1,000 households with green electricity. |
03 Apr 24 |
Germany: UKA places next major order for 253 MW with the Nordex Group The wind and solar park developer UKA has placed an order for a further 39 turbines with the German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex. The machines of the N149/5.X, N163/5.X and N163/6.X series are expected to provide a total generation capacity of 253 MW after commissioning. Including the orders now placed, UKA has ordered 450 MW of wind turbines from Nordex in the last three months. |
26 Mar 24 |
Germany: Wintershall Dea sells WIGA stake to SEFE Wintershall Dea has entered into an agreement for the sale of its 50.02 per cent stake in WIGA, the sole shareholder of German regulated gas transmission system operators GASCADE Gastransport GmbH and NEL Gastransport GmbH, to Berlin-headquartered company SEFE. SEFE currently holds a 49.98 per cent stake in WIGA and, upon closing of the transaction, will become the company’s sole shareholder. |
Germany - more news
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