In the municipality of Kinsau in the Upper Bavarian district of Landsberg am Lech, natural gas could soon be searched for. “In view of the skyrocketing gas prices, we as the Bavarian state government want to use all options to defuse the crisis. That’s why we also support the search for domestic natural gas,” said Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (free voters) on Friday in Munich.
His house had previously granted permission to explore the “Lech” field from October 1st. Natural gas is still suspected here, but this has not yet been tapped. “Depending on the region, layers containing oil and/or gas may be present in the foothills of the Alps. Even if the assumed deposits in the foothills of the Alps will probably be relatively limited, we should do everything we can to reduce Bavaria’s and Germany’s dependence on imports,” emphasized Aiwanger. The state government is therefore open to other applications.
“Natural gas was the key technology in the German energy transition to bridge the transition from coal and nuclear to renewables. It has been clear for over six months that we can only build on this bridge to a very limited extent,” said Aiwanger. In the long term, green hydrogen will take over today’s tasks from natural gas. “We will partly produce this hydrogen ourselves and partly import it from partner countries.”
The communities affected have already been informed about the permit application, and the permit was initially granted for three years. The company can now apply to the competent mining authority for approval to carry out the exploratory drilling. Only after this safety-related approval can the company start drilling.
The company suspects “several hundred million cubic meters of natural gas” in the area around Kinsau. If gas is found, it will be fed into the gas network. According to the information, there could be more gas underground, especially in southern Bavaria between Lech, Isar, Inn and Salzach. Almost 60 Bavarian gas fields have been discovered in the Bavarian Alps since the 1950s – but many deposits have now been exploited. In the 1970s, Bavaria was able to cover around 30 percent of its gas requirements from domestic deposits.