Major natural gas well decommissioning campaign launched in Hoogstede

By the summer, specialised companies will have filled a total of seven disused gas wells in the municipalities of Hoogstede, Wilsum, Itterbeck and Halle. They work according to the principle of a travelling construction site. They set up the system at one location, backfill the well, dismantle the system and then start again in the same way at the next well. The experts are active at a central field station for around four weeks at a time for the backfilling work. The wells are more than 2,000 metres deep. "In some cases, there will be construction noise and increased lorry and car traffic in the immediate vicinity of the construction sites during the work. We ask for your understanding," reports Neptune Energy project manager David Zelienka and adds: "Good neighbourly relations with the local people are very important to us."

At each site, experts first pull the old production pipes out of the well. They then fill the wells permanently with deep drilling cement. Additional mechanical seals are also used to secure the well.

At the same time, a second team of Neptune Energy employees works around the year with a smaller, in-house system using a similar process. They backfill oil wells around 1,200 metres deep at numerous locations in the districts of Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim.

"Plugging and abandonment has become a central field of activity for our company. We can look back on more than 125 years of tradition. It is also our responsibility to clean up and return unused areas to nature," explains Michael Funke, responsible for production at Neptune Energy in Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim. In 2025 alone, the company filled in 20 wells in the region and dismantled numerous central field stations. This corresponds to an investment volume of around 11 million euros.

In addition to the dismantling measures, Funke also sees a lot of future potential in his area of responsibility. "In Hoogstede and Georgsdorf, for example, our most important wells in the whole of Germany are located in the Adorf Karbon natural gas field. We produce domestic natural gas here with a significantly lower carbon footprint than any imports," he reports. Neptune Energy employees in the region will therefore still have plenty to do in 2026 - with new production and plugging and abandonment in equal measure.

Neptune Energy is one of the leading raw materials companies in Germany. With over 135 years of experience, we secure supplies for industry and society. Our goal: Today we produce what counts tomorrow. Around 480 employees in many regions of Germany and at our headquarters in Hanover are involved in three key areas of activity

Base - Gas & Oil: safe and reliable production of domestic energy raw materials

Balance - Plugging and abandonment: taking responsibility for the past and restoring nature

Boost - New Energy: actively shaping the future, for example with lithium from Germany

This is how we combine experience with progress. Neptune Energy's revenue in the 2024 financial year was €440 million. The total annual production of gas and oil was 5.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).