Oil and natural gas deposits (WMS Service)

The topic shows the outlines of oil and gas deposits in line with current geological knowledge. Oil and natural gas deposits are economically viable, natural accumulations of oil and natural gas and, if necessary, other hydrocarbons in storage rocks. The outlines of the oil and natural gas deposits presented in the data set represent limits that can be of a variety of nature: In a simple case, it is the interface between the oil or gas accumulation and the surrounding edge water (so-called oil or gas-water contact). In other geological situations, the boundaries can be formed as a whole or partly by the spatially changing rock properties or tectonic structures, such as faults or discordances. Furthermore, the geological structure of a deposit is not always sufficiently known for various reasons to define its limits without doubt and precisely. In these cases, the relevant limits have been estimated to the best of knowledge for the present dataset, e.g. by using known gas or oil-down-to(s) or estimates of the areas of the deposits drained by the extraction process. The limits of the deposits are also subject to a time variability, which begins with the start of production and the associated extraction of oil or natural gas. With the exception of a few exceptions, the initial outlines of the deposits, i.e. the outlines found at the beginning of production, are reproduced in this dataset. In addition to geological boundaries, the data set can also contain limits that have an administrative background, e.g. to delineate deposit areas of different operating companies. The basis for the data set is geological structural maps of the deposits which are regularly transmitted to the LBEG by the respective operating companies as part of their reporting on their mining activities. The scale of these structural maps depends on the size of the respective deposit and is usually between 1:10,000 and 1:50,000. This dataset is therefore not suitable for applications on larger scales. As there are no structural maps for the LBEG for a few small deposits that have already been abandoned, the outlines of the deposit have been estimated by means of a strike circle that has been placed around the corresponding extraction bore(s). The cumulative production data refer to the reporting date 31.12. of the previous year and will be published in the 3 rd or 4th of each year. Updated calendar month of one year. If the cumulative production data are added to totals for federal states, the sums slightly deviate from the sums published in the LBEG’s annual report “petroleum and natural gas in the Federal Republic of Germany”, since the annual report also takes into account test production volumes that come from individual drilling and did not lead to field development. Furthermore, the annual report divides the production volume of the Sinstorf transnational oil deposit according to a certain relationship between the countries of Lower Saxony and Hamburg.