Europe / Caspian / CIS

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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

10 Feb 25
Germany: RWE's Amrumbank West offshore wind farm will help balance the German grid
RWE plans to offer a system-stabilising secondary reserve, also known as automatic frequency restoration reserve, for the German power grid via its offshore wind farm, Amrumbank West. The transmission system operator TenneT recently granted the necessary pre-qualification for a capacity of 60 megawatts (MW).
06 Feb 25
Germany: BP Europa SE to seek potential buyers for Ruhr Oel GmbH – BP Gelsenkirchen
BP Europa SE has announced its intention to market its Ruhr Oel GmbH – BP Gelsenkirchen operation in Germany for potential sale. Its assets include the bp refinery in Gelsenkirchen and DHC Solvent Chemie GmbH in Mülheim an der Ruhr.
30 Jan 25
Germany: Vattenfall signs wind based power agreement with LyondellBasell
Vattenfall has signed a purchase power agreement (PPA) with the chemicals group LyondellBasell (LYB), providing fossil free electricity from the Nordlicht 1 offshore wind farm off the German coast.
27 Jan 25
Germany: Nordex Group reaches new heights with its inhouse developed hybrid tower
On January 26, 2025, the Nordex Group installed a N175/6.X turbine for the first time on a self-developed concrete-steel tower with a hub height of 179 metres in Santow in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany.
24 Jan 25
Germany: Work begins on new control centre in East Friesland for RWE offshore wind farms
A new office building is taking shape in Jemgum, in Germany’s East Friesland region, to provide a base for round-the-clock monitoring and control of RWE’s existing and future wind farms in both Germany and continental Europe. The new offshore wind control centre will be ready for operation in spring 2026.

Germany - more news

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