The Etzel cavern storage facility

From national crude oil storage to North-West natural gas hub

Etzel near Wilhelmshaven is home to a natural underground salt dome, where the first caverns were created to store German emergency crude oil supplies already in the 1970s.

The Etzel salt dome is also particularly suitable for the storage of natural gas, due to its beneficial geological properties, its proximity to major natural gas import pipelines, and the connection to both the German and the Dutch natural gas network.

Thus, natural gas storage in Etzel has increasingly become of relevance since the 1990s. For example, in recent years, more and more natural gas storage caverns have been created, and former crude oil caverns have been converted into natural gas caverns.

Dutch-German Friesland is already a major junction in the gas economy's infrastructure - the Etzel cavern storage facility is a major component of the North-West European natural gas hub.