Why in Etzel
Conditions of the salt dome in Etzel ideal:
The Etzel cavern facility in the municipality of Friedeburg is located about 20 kilometers southwest of Wilhelmshaven.
The Etzel site is ideally suited for cavern construction because there is a special salt deposit underground. The mighty salt layers formed around 250 million years ago and were later covered by sediments.
Preconditions of the salt dome in Etzel
The Etzel cavern facility in the municipality of Friedeburg is located about 20 kilometers southwest of Wilhelmshaven.
The Etzel site is ideally suited for cavern construction because there is a special salt deposit underground. The thick salt layers formed around 250 million years ago and were later covered by sediments.
In the area of Etzel, a mushroom-shaped structure, a so-called salt dome, has developed from this over geological periods. Because of its formation and geographical location, the Etzel salt dome is ideally suited for cavern construction, i.e. for the underground storage of crude oil and natural gas in cavities artificially created in the salt rock.
In Germany as well as in Europe, there are hardly any comparably favorable conditions for the construction of caverns for the safe storage of energy raw materials.
Salt rock is ideally suited for cavern construction due to its special chemical and physical properties: Salt can only be dissolved with water and its crystal structure makes it solid and impermeable. These material properties make the permanently safe storage of crude oil and natural gas in deep salt deposits possible.
Only natural gas and crude oil are stored in the Etzel caverns. Any other use is prohibited by mining law. Above-ground tank farms would not be acceptable for safety and ecological reasons, so there is no sensible alternative to the caverns.
Good connections - proximity to the North Sea and the port
The proximity to the North Sea makes it possible to use the seawater needed for flushing out (brining) the caverns, which are 300 - 500 meters high and up to 60 meters wide.
Pipelines transport it from the Jade Bay to Etzel. 75 caverns have been created in the last 50 years at depths ranging from 900 to 1700 meters (as of 2021).
At the same time, the proximity to Germany's largest transhipment hub for crude oil - the deepwater port in Wilhelmshaven - played a significant role in the decision to locate the cavern facility at the Etzel site.
Since the start of cavern operations in the Etzel has grown into one of the largest cavern storage facilities in the world, optimally integrated into the Northern European pipeline network for oil and gas.
Most recently, another important infrastructure project related to the site was completed in 2011: The Bunde-Etzel pipeline.
This connects the cavern facility with the gas pipeline hub in Bunde/Oude Statenzijl over a distance of more than 60 km and thus with the Dutch gas market.
Safe underground storage facilities
The salt dome in Etzel is about 12 kilometers long and about 5 kilometers wide, rising from a depth of more than 4,000 meters to within 750 meters of the earth's surface. Due to the location of the caverns in the salt rock and the thick overburden above the salt dome, the stability of the earth's surface in the cavern field above the cavities, which are located at a depth of more than one kilometer, is not or only slightly affected.
Since cavern construction began at Etzel in 1971, a very shallow depression, invisible to the naked eye, has formed above the cavern field as an effect of mining activities; this depression levels off toward the edges to such an extent that no measurable effects are detected there. In addition, there are safety distances to settlements and buildings, so that there is no serious impact from the construction and operation of the caverns.
Environmentally friendly & cost effective
The cavern facility in Etzel is one of the cleanest and most environmentally friendly storage facilities, as it emits virtually no pollutants or noise pollution. The actual operation of the caverns is carried out centrally by the aboveground facilities at the existing Etzel site. The facilities themselves do not cause any significant environmental nuisance, as the pumps, gas compressor units and other equipment are electrically operated. The existing compressor plants are soundproofed so that there is no nuisance in the surrounding area.
Not the operation, but necessary construction measures can locally and temporarily lead to an increased noise development, especially due to the associated construction site traffic. STORAG ETZEL is anxious to minimize any disturbance to local residents during construction work by means of distance and traffic regulations as well as noise protection facilities and concentration of the work to acceptable times of day.
For more information, please contact our staff at the Etzel Cavern Information Center.
Contact us
Etzel cavern information center
Marcel Sodmann
Beim Postweg 2
26446 Friedeburg
Germany
Infobox in Etzel
Etzel cavern information center
Beim Postweg 2
26446 Friedeburg
Germany
Tel. +49 (0)4465 977 93 39