Europe / Caspian / CIS

Germany flag
Summary | Profile

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

28 Apr 25
Germany: Milestone for Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction: First 'EnBW He Dreiht' wind turbine is now in place
The first wind turbine for 'EnBW He Dreiht', Germany’s largest offshore wind farm currently under construction, is now in place, marking an important milestone in the construction phase. He Dreiht is a world premiere in technical terms because the largest 15 MW wind turbine available on the market from Vestas will be used for the first time.
24 Apr 25
Germany: Iberdrola and Kansai close their offshore wind alliance with the investment of 1,280 million euros in the Baltic Sea
Iberdrola has closed a strategic agreement with Kansai, Japan's second largest electricity company and one of the largest in Asia, to co-invest in the 315 MW German offshore wind farm Windanker, located in the Baltic Sea. After obtaining all the necessary regulatory approvals, Iberdrola will have a majority stake of 51% in the assets and thus accelerates energy independence in Europe.
23 Apr 25
Germany: High lev­el of com­pe­ti­tion in the auc­tion for so­lar in­stal­la­tions that end­ed on 1 March 2025
Germany's Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur) has announced the successful bids in the auction that ended on 1 March 2025 for ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) installations and solar installations on a construction that is neither a building nor a noise barrier.
23 Apr 25
Germany: RWE builds wind farm in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
RWE is expanding its onshore wind portfolio in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania by 22.8 MW. RWE is building four wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 22.8 megawatts (MW) near Papenhagen, close to the small town of Grimmen in the district of Vorpommern-Rügen.
15 Apr 25
Germany: More than 150 MW: Bedburg and RWE are expanding wind power
This is the third wind farm project between the two partners: RWE and the town of Bedburg are building nine more wind turbines with a total output of around 60 megawatts (MW) on recultivated land at the Garzweiler open-cast mine.

Germany - more news

Other countries in this region




A global information service for upstream oil and gas opportunities - divestitures, farmins and farmouts and licensing rounds.


Subscriber Only Deals

Current Deals

Current Upstream Deals: 195

Completed Deals

Completed Upstream Deals: 6640

Company Profiles

Current Company Profiles: 2932

Corporate Activity

Current Corporate Activity articles: 4197

Companies Looking

Current number of articles: 466

Company Sales

Current Company Sales articles:1674

Geostudies

Current Geostudies articles: 1003

How to subscribe

energy-pedia Jobs

RSS Feed Widget
See all jobs...


energy-pedia Databank

The energy-pedia databank contains links to information on the world financial and energy markets, including share prices, oil and gas prices and the global stock exchanges. Read more...



energy-pedia Glossary

A list of commonly used terms in the oil and gas industry. Read more...

Subscribe

Subscribe to the FREE
energy-pedia Daily Newsletter
Subscribe

Syntillica
Bayphase
Rose & Assocs
Borchwix
energy365
Union Jack Oil 149
OPC
Telos NRG
Merlin
About energy-pedia

energy-pedia news is a FREE news service written and edited by E and P professionals for E and P professionals.

We don't just report the news, we give you the technical background as well, with additional information derived from our unique energy-pedia opportunities service.
Contact us

energy365 Ltd

238 High Street
London Colney
St Albans
UNITED KINGDOM

Tel: +44(0)1727 822675

Email: info@energy-pedia.com