Will natural gas come from Reichling in the future?

Created: 10/01/2022 13:32

By: Susanne Greiner, Manuela Schmid

Does the Reichling natural gas pipeline reach the Denklingen junction?

© Symbolic photo: Panthermedia/photojimdp

Reichling – Regional energy supply and independence from imports should currently create a pleasant tingling sensation.

Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger also referred to this in his press release on Friday, in which he announced "natural gas exploration in the 'Lech' field in the Landsberg am Lech district".

According to the Munich Merkur, the sites where natural gas is to be drilled are south of Reichling: one in Mühlau, two more near the Kromerhof just before the roundabout in the direction of Rott.

Natural gas wells are not new to the region.

Gas was searched for here as early as the 1970s and 1980s.

However, it was assumed at the time that possible deposits could be found around Kinsau.

That is why the drilling sites were given the names "Kinsau I" and "Kinsau II" - a name that has stuck with them.

And since Aiwanger initially came from Kinsau (which can be read in the press release), Kinsau's mayor Marco Dollinger was a sought-after man on Friday.

However, he could only refer him to his colleague Johannes Leis in Reichling, in whose community the future drilling sites are located.

He couldn't say too much, the whole thing had only been public since Friday.

The affected communities were informed "as part of the mining law participation process" that "the exploration permit 'Lech' was granted for three years to a Berlin gas company" called Genexico.

Genexico can now apply for approval for the exploratory drilling, a safety-related approval, from the responsible mining authority.

"They assume 300 to 500 million cubic meters of gas deposits," said Leis.

Reichling took precautions and had an investigation carried out to determine whether the drinking water supply could be endangered by the drilling.

The Bachrunzel, the source of the drinking water supply for Reichling, is close to the future drilling sites.

However, the investigation showed that there was no danger to the drinking water, according to Leis.

He sees no other dangers.

However, the municipality also has no 'right of veto', one is only involved.

According to

, the natural gas in the Lechrain is a gas-oil mixture.

The oil is filtered out and transported away.

The gas, which is suspected to be four meters deep, is likely to be fed into the natural gas network in Swabia.

A pipeline would then have to be built from the connection point at Hirschvogel in Denklingen to Reichling.

Leis estimates that the funding could start in 2025, and he cites up to 40 years as the funding period.

However, the permission granted by the ministry so far only applies to exploratory drilling.

The grant must be applied for separately.

Upper Bavaria is the focus overall when it comes to natural gas.

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, there is still 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.

In the meantime, however, many deposits have been exploited: In the 1970s, Bavaria covered around 30 percent of its gas requirements from domestic natural gas deposits.