HISTORY OF

CRUDE OIL PRODUCTIONIN EMLICHHEIM.

Shaping the future.

02/03

Horse-head pumps, with their rhythmic nodding, are a familiar sight for the inhabi-tants of the districts of Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim because the region'sindustrial history is closely connected to oil and gas. Wintershall Holding GmbH isGermany's largest producer of crude oil and natural gas and has been producingoil in Emlichheim for 65 years. At present this field on the German-Dutch borderhas 85 wells in active operation and produces about 140,000 tonnes of crude oileach year. All in all oil is produced from 14 blocks extending over an area of foursquare kilometers.

Wintershall has planned further investments to expand its production of oil inGermany. In 2008 the company completed four additional wells in Emlichheim.In 2010 and 2011 production in Emlichheim will have increased by 16 new and13 deviated wells. This is likely to keep production at a consistently high leveluntil 2016. Domestic production has traditionally been the basis of operations forthe company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF. At around 2.5 milliontonnes (2010), oil production in Germany covers just three percent of domesticdemand but any production “on one's own doorstep” enhances supply security.

A PIECE OF

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY.

The history of oil production in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim goes back to the middleof the 19th century. Back then oil shale was already being mined in the Bentheim Forest andbeing distilled into crude oil at the oil plant in Salzbergen. Natural asphalt deposits, such asthose at Sieringhoek near Bentheim, also indicated oil deposits. Natural asphalt, or crudebitumen as it is also known, comes from oil or oil sands as a result of oxidation and theevaporation of volatile constituents. From experience, geoscientists knew that the chancesof additional strikes were good.

When Professor Hans Höfer, the leading European oil geologist of the time, drew up hisreport titled “Bentheim – an Oil Study” in 1903 it was therefore no surprise that he recom-mended exploration of the Bentheim anticline, whose flanks can be recognized in theBentheimer Schlossberg hill to the south and in the Isterberg hill to the north.

Between 1904 and 1908 Ulrich & Co, a Berlin-based bank, commissioned drilling operationsnear Bentheim in a search mainly for oil but the wells – one of which went down to the consider-able depth of 1,233 meters – did not deliver the success they were hoping for. It was not until1925 that Professor Alfred Bentz, head of the Oil department at Preussische Geologische Lan-desanstalt, reexamined the area south of Bentheim. He pointed out its prospectivity for oil again.

OIL SOUGHT – NATURAL GAS FOUNDAt the first wells near Ochtrup, where drilling began in 1934, only traces of crude oil werefound. Then the Bentheim anticline was explored again in 1936. A deep well was drillednear the old 1904 well. The “Norddeutschland 1” well took over two years to drill but, in fall1938, it hit the dolomite of the Zechstein at a depth of 1,557 meters. To their great surprise,though, the drilling crew did not find oil but encountered a gas eruption that they could notbring under control for a while. Natural gas flowed through the flares for some time, lightingup the night. Real production in the Bentheim natural gas field was able to start in 1944when the necessary infrastructure had been put in place.

THE SEARCH FOR OIL AND NATURAL GAS IN GRAFSCHAFT

BENTHEIM.

04/05

EXPLORATION IN THE SHADOW OF WAREncouraged by the Bentheim gas strike, the geologists now also turned their atten-tion to the north. They assumed that the anticline continued in this direction un-derground. As it was adequately covered by more recent deposits, they thoughtthe Bentheim sandstone ought to be an ideal crude oil reservoir.

Simple surface maps were replaced by geophysical methods that made itpossible to “look into” the inaccessible subsurface. Gravimeters and seismicmeasurements carried out in the course of the Geophysical Survey of theGerman Reich indicated promising structures.

The outbreak of World War II led to an intensified search for fossil energysources. Licenses were granted and initial exploration wells were drilled onthe highs near Lingen and Nordhorn, starting in 1940 and 1941 respectively.These uncovered traces of the much sought-after crude oil. Finally oil wasfound in the “Lingen 2” well near Dalum on February 3, 1942. Development ofthe Dalum oil field spread from this well. Further geophysical measurementswere taken on the basis, in particular, of reflection seismics, which is used toexplore the shallow subsurface.

In 1943 the drilling crews also hit oil with initial exploration wells in Georgsdorfand Emlichheim. In the same year a German-Dutch consortium establishedduring the war also found oil in the “Schoonebeek 2” well on the Dutch side ofthe border, which laid the foundation stone for development of the major oilfield at Schoonebeek.

Together with Emlichheim it forms a geological unit (anticline) stretching about ten kilometersin an east-west direction. Emlichheim is the smaller part and constitutes the south flank.

At this time Wintershall was the only operator in the Emlichheim field. For the Georgsdorf,Nordhorn, Esche and Itterbeck concessions, Deutag /C. Deilmann GmbH (later calledPreussag Energie, now Gaz de France, GdF), Preussag, Gewerkschaft Elwerath (later calledBEB, now Exxon-Mobil Produktions GmbH, EMPG) and Wintershall established a consor-tium in which the companies each held a 25 percent stake.

Toward the end of World War II production of crude oil in the region almost came to astop. By the end of March 1945 wells had been drilled as follows:

27 in Dalum, of which 23 were successful9 in Emlichheim, of which 8 were successful21 in Georgsdorf, of which 19 were successful

All in all about 34,000 tonnes of crude oil had been produced at this time.

During the war prisoners of war and forced laborers were also deployed in the oil industry.Via BASF, Wintershall is involved in the compensation fund for former forced laborers.

06/07

Bremen

Bremerhaven

Hannover

The Netherlands Germany

Groningen

NordhornItterbeck

Esche

GeorgsdorfEmlichheim

Almelo

Emmen

A NEW START AND NEW STRIKESBy order of the British military administration, production of crude oil resumedas early as 1945. Additional fields were discovered in the years that followed.After Dalum, Georgsdorf, Schoonebeek and Emlichheim came Adorf in 1947, Rühlertwist in 1948 and Rühlermoor and Scheerhorn in 1949. Exploration wenton. There were two more oil strikes in 1957 and 1959, namely in the westernEmlichheim field (near Eschebrügge) and in the southern Emlichheim field(near Haselaar).

After two gas fields had been found near Nordhorn (Frenswegen and Itterbeck-Halle) at the beginning of the 1950s, more and more gas was struck in the north-west of Grafschaft Bentheim up to the end of the 1960s. After the discovery ofgas in Adorf in 1955, more gas fields were discovered in Emlichheim in 1956and in Kalle in 1957. Gas was also struck in Esche and Wielen in 1959.

A PLACE AND ITS OIL.EMLICHHEIM–

When a large steel framework, heavy machinery and corrugated-iron sheds were erectednorth of Emlichheim in 1943, the local population was surprised initially. They receivedthe strangers with mistrust but were very curious about the project itself. The drill bit wentinto action on May 20, 1943, and gradually made its way into the depths. On November 4the well was ready and the effort had paid off. The well was free-flowing, enabling produc-tion to proceed without extra facilities because the crude oil reached the surface underits own pressure. The well had hit “oil sand” 27 meters down. But there were still manychallenges to face, as shown by a letter dated March 27, 1944, from Wintershall's oilplants, based in Nienhagen at the time, to the Board of Mines in Hanover:

“Since the oil is extremely viscous, it is currently impossible to tell which methodshould be used to actually produce it. In addition, the terrain is difficult and does notoffer any way of transporting the oil. Pumping through pipes is out of the questiondue to the characteristics just mentioned. In the meantime we have begun to repairthe road and to build a field railroad to link up to the train station in Emlichheim.”

08/09

The implementation of these plans is described in the records drawn up atthe time by one of Wintershall's employees:

“At the edge of the village near the train station a marshy, sandy plot of land

will be leased and leveled and a small center with a wooden shack will be

erected on it for site management. As the crude oil needs to be transported

from the wells to the train station, a field railroad of roughly four kilometers in

length will be set up. For this, permanent personnel will be coming from Nien-

hagen to start laying the railroad and building the road when a camp has been

erected for everybody close to the site's storage location. Finally the first small

rail tank cars will arrive from the field. A treatment facility will be built to pump

the oil into the Bentheim railroad's tank cars.”

SETTING OFF INTO A NEW TIME This employee also wrote down his impressions of the resumption of produc-tion after the war, as ordered by the British military administration:

“Resuming work is easier said than done. Along the border there will be an ex-

clusion zone that must not be entered. […] Contact with head office in Nienhagen

has been disrupted. Those employees who have remained have decided to re-

sume operations on their own initiative. After the only well outside the exclusion

zone – Emlichheim 3 – a rail track will be laid and production can then begin.

We were barely ready with this when permission was granted to enter the ex-

clusion zone with identity cards until dusk. The camp is also being put in order.

[…] Only one man is living there at the moment and everybody can use it as

they want to. Somebody will be found to help out in the kitchen. We are eating

the remaining stock of foods. We have to drive mice out of the rolled oats and

potato flour. We swap salt with the local farmers for milk and bacon so we can

make do with milk soup and fried potatoes.”

On January 1, 1946, Wintershall established the Emsland oil plants. By order of the Britishmilitary administration and the North German Oil Control (NGOC) work pushed ahead onfurther exploration and on increasing crude oil production. After all, the region's crude oilwas of strategic importance for the victorious allied powers too. However it turned out to bedifficult to comply with the NGOC's instructions because material was missing, as well aslabor initially. Over time newcomers were deployed in production but they needed accom-modation and, above all, food and drink – not an easy task in a period of general shortage.

LIVING AND WORKING IN EMLICHHEIMThe community camp that had been erected soon became too small so the workers builttemporary huts. Their families were quartered at the former prisoner-of-war camp in Bathorn,about 12 kilometers away from Emlichheim. But it remained difficult to obtain food. Every-body tried to get at least some milk and, occasionally, some bacon and potatoes by swap-ping items or working for the local farmers. One of the workers there described life afterthe war like this:

“At mealtimes we all stand in line at the kitchen issue point with our metal bowls and spoons

to collect rutabaga or mushroom soup. The food that was available told us which day of

the week it was. There is no peace during the day or night. There is constant coming and

going when shifts change. A few rooms down the block somebody is playing the accordion.

In the room next door the radio is playing. In my room somebody is snoring loud. Opposite,

cards are being banged down on the table. Further away somebody is frying potatoes.

You can hear or smell everything across several rooms. Nothing happens in the village.

There is no Sunday dancing and I can't do sport either because it is frowned upon. I can't

even go to watch a movie because the local authority has rejected a theater following

objections by the churches. This means it is better to stay in the camp despite all the in-

conveniences here. At least I feel at home here. […] Our office is a green wooden shack.

When you make a phone call, everybody in the shack and the machines must stay quiet

as you can't hear yourself speak otherwise. You just don't try to make a phone call in the

shack itself. You would simply end up shouting the whole time. The stench of self-cultivated

tobacco wafts through the room. Recently I was in a bar. ’I know why they want oil’ said

one farmer to another in the local dialect. ’There's something for women in it.’ – ’What's

that then?’ – ’I've heard it's full of perfume.’ He meant paraffin.”

10/11

SETTING UP AND EXPANSION OF PRODUCTIONAt this time the extent of the Emlichheim reservoir was known and work on devel-oping it further pushed ahead. Several drilling rigs belonging to Haniel & Lueg,Wintershall and Deutsche Vacuum were now operating in the field at the sametime. Workers set up field lines and built roads. The crude oil was collected atthe head station and transported by the field railroad for treatment at the center.As transport capacity soon became inadequate and oil in the rail tank carskept thickening in winter, Wintershall built an insulated four-kilometer pipelineabove ground from the head station to the center.

DEVELOPMENTS.POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC

In 1947 a demand by the Dutch for changes to the border caused agitation. This wouldhave meant the cession of part of the north-west of Grafschaft Bentheim to the Netherlands.The reason given for this claim was the need for water but the discovered crude oil depositswere also mentioned in passing. In the end the allies rejected this claim. The Netherlandsfinally abandoned this claim in 1952.

In 1948 the currency reform led to a considerable improvement in the economic situation.Office premises and many residential properties were built in Emlichheim. The “red settlement”(now Grasriete/Westerfeld/Danziger Strasse), the “white settlement” (west of Berliner Strasse/Rerinkstrasse), “Stöffers Tannen” (east of Berliner Strasse) and Haselaar were all built up, shacks and huts disappeared and Emlichheim got better roads and street lighting. Theproducts available in stores came to meet people's increased demands. A new school,sports grounds and an Evangelical-Lutheran church were built. And the long disputedmovie theater became reality. The neighboring communities of Georgsdorf and Dalum alsoevolved thanks to the production of raw materials. Part of the moor was cultivated andnew farmers settled.

12/13

1950FROM TILL NOW.

At the center in Emlichheim the ground was broken for the new office building in Winters -hallstrasse on May 8, 1951. Topping-out was on September 14, 1951, and the keys werehanded over at a ceremony on May 5, 1952. At the opening Paul Rühle, commercial directorof the Emsland oil plants since October 1949, made the following promise:

“Administrative staff will carry out their duties in this building to the best of their ability for

the benefit of both the plant and the workforce.”

At the end of 1954 the Emsland and Nienhagen oil plants were merged into joint adminis-trative operations in Barnstorf, Lower Saxony. Alongside Kassel, Barnstorf is now a crucialsite for the activities of Wintershall Holding GmbH in Germany.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES – PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TERTIARY PRODUCTIONWith the deployment of innovative technology Wintershall is applying pressure to crude oil inEmlichheim – and thus extending the production capacity and life of the Emlichheim oil fieldnear the German-Dutch border.

Emlichheim is well past the stage of primary production, during which the oil more or lessflows into the operation’s pipelines by itself. Secondary production, in which oil recovery issupported by the injection of water, began back in 1952 and is also almost over. Since thecrude oil in Emlichheim is very viscous and firmly embedded in the rock pores, the waterwas later heated and pressed into the deposit to make the oil flow better. So-called steamflooding is now in use in the tertiary production stage. In this process steam is pressed intothe deposit at a temperature of about 300°C and at a pressure of about 100 bar. The crudeoil in the porous rock becomes warm and less viscous and is easier to pump to the surface.Wintershall has been successfully applying this sophisticated production technology inEmlichheim for more than 25 years now.

14/15

The technical preconditions were established in 1980 when the steam floodingfacility was built. Then the first steam flooding project began in May 1981. Thetenth steam flooding project is currently being implemented in the Emlichheimoil field. In 1999 Wintershall was the first company in Germany to combine steamflooding with horizontal drilling – another production-enhancing technique.Horizontal drilling makes it possible to reach locations in a subterranean depositthat lie several kilometers away from the surface position of the derrick.

Over the years another million tonnes of crude oil have been produced roughly every sixyears in the Emlichheim field with the use of new technologies:

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Date Oil production

February 11, 1955 1,000,000 tonnes

April 08, 1962 2,000,000 tonnes

November 10, 1968 3,000,000 tonnes

June 09, 1974 4,000,000 tonnes

January 22, 1980 5,000,000 tonnes

July 29, 1986 6,000,000 tonnes

January 28, 1993 7,000,000 tonnes

May 25, 1999 8,000,000 tonnes

October 28, 2005 9,000,000 tonnes

December 31, 2010 9,728,760 tonnes

16/17

PRODUCTION GOES ONOil and gas fields in Germany are not easy to develop because of the difficultgeological conditions. Compared to sites abroad, production in Germany ismore demanding when it comes to technology and is often only possible atconsiderable extra expense and with special techniques. However, the expertisethat Wintershall acquires in exploration and production in Germany continuallyenhances its technical competence and is applied to international projects too.This makes the company an attractive partner for other companies in the explo-ration and production (E&P) industry.

Innovative technologies are becoming increasingly more important in the pro-duction of crude oil and natural gas. Instead of recovering only about one-thirdof the oil in a field, which is the world average, steam flooding makes it possibleto achieve an ultimate recovery factor of up to 50 percent.

As far as Emlichheim is concerned, Wintershall has continuously kept produc-tion of crude oil at a level of roughly 140,000 tonnes per year – enough to heatabout 42,000 houses for a year. Current calculations show that the deposit willcontinue to make a major contribution to Germany’s supply of oil for the next20 to 25 years.

Wintershall Holding GmbHFriedrich-Ebert-Str. 16034119 Kassel, GermanyPhone: + 49 561 301-0Fax: + 49 561 301-1702info@wintershall.comwww.wintershall.com