E&P in Brief

A Wintershall Fact Sheet

Wintershall in the North Sea

Oil and gas production on our own doorstep Around half of the natural gas consumed in Europe today still comes from the countries bordering the North Sea: Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK and Germany. Crude oil production from this region covers more than a quarter of Europes oil consumption. The North Sea is one of the major European resources of crude oil and natural gas and thus one of the traditional core regions of Wintershall. The wholly owned BASF subsidiary has been active there since 1965. In the last five years Wintershall has acquired exploration rights in about 120 licenses and is now searching for new oil and gas deposits in the German, British, Norwegian, Danish and Dutch sectors of the North Sea. Norway Norway is Europes most important supplier of crude oil and natural gas alongside Russia. Wintershall has significantly expanded its activities in Norway since the founding of the Norwegian subsidiary Wintershall Norge in the middle of the last decade. With over 40 licenses and more than 20 operatorships, Wintershall is already one of the largest license holders in Norway investing about half of its global exploration budget in the Northern North Sea. At the same time Wintershall is moving its successful exploration portfolio towards development and production. This demands large financial investments, adding to the already significant exploration expenditure. Until 2015 Wintershall Norge is planning to invest up to two billion euros in the exploration and the development of its discoveries in the Norwegian and UK sectors of the North Sea and is aiming for a production level of 50,000 BOE per day. The fields Knarr, Luno and Cladhan are to contribute to this production target. The discovery Maria, with a planned production start in 2016, is considered as one of the most significant oil discoveries in Norway in 2010 with an estimated 60-120 million barrels of oil. In 2011 Wintershall increased its share in the own operated Maria discovery to 50 percent. Wintershalls activities in Norway were also boosted by the allocation of seven new exploration licenses from the Norwegian energy ministry as part of the APA 2011 licensing round. Especially with the allocation of the Havrn

March 2012 Tel. +49 561 301-3301 Fax +49 561 301-1321 press@wintershall.com www.wintershall.com

The North Sea is one of Wintershalls traditional core regions.

Center for Remote Control Operations: Wintershall controls its Dutch gas platforms from land with modern radio technology.

Wintershall Holding GmbH Press and Public Seite von 4 Relations

P.O. Box 10 40 20 34112 Kassel, Germany

Phone: +49 561 301-3301 Fax: +49 561 301-1321

E&P in Brief
A Wintershall Fact Sheet

and Vandrefalk prospect in PL 646 in the Norwegian Sea, Wintershall has received further top ranked licences. The Norwegian authorities have also approved the development and operations plan (PDO) for the oil field Knarr, formerly Jordbaer, in the Norwegian North Sea. While the PDO for the Luno oil field has been submitted to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the licence partners have agreed on a coordinated development solution with the Draupne fields. First oil from the Luno field is planned in 2015. On top of the Maria appraisal well, Wintershall plans at least 3 ownoperated exploration wells in 2012 on the Norwegian Continental Shelf: Skarfjell (ongoing), Kakelborg and Asha/Noor. The expansion of Wintershall Norge on the NCS is also reflected in the rapidly growing number of employees: in 2012 the team in Stavanger is set grow to more than 200 employees. UK Wintershall holds interests in 20 licenses in the British North Sea and operates half of these including the Wingate gas platform, which was brought on stream in October 2011. Wingate, which is the first ownoperated gas production of Wintershall in the UK part of the North Sea, currently produces about 2.2 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. After the completion of a second production well, which is planned for late March, the total production volume of Wingate is set to increase to a plateau rate of three million cubic meters of natural gas per day. Wintershall produces approximately 1,500 BOE per day from the Broom oilfield in the Northern North Sea. Over the last two years Wintershall has achieved some impressive success in exploration, particularly with the Catcher and Cladhan discoveries. Following the discovery of the Catcher field in 2010 in the Central North Sea, three further discoveries "Catcher East", "Varadero" and "Burgman" were made in licence P 1430. Wintershall holds a 20 percent non-operated working interest in this licence. These discoveries as well as the "Cladhan" discovery in licence P 1064, where Wintershall holds a non-operated 33.5 percent working interest, are currently being evaluated for development options and future production. Wintershall will be participating in 5 exploration wells in the UK in 2012 and is actively pursuing additional licence interest for the 27th licensing round.
Wintershall Holding GmbH Press and Public Seite von 4 Relations P.O. Box 10 40 20 34112 Kassel, Germany Phone: +49 561 301-3301 Fax: +49 561 301-1321

Wintershall drilling engineers work in a team.

E&P in Brief
A Wintershall Fact Sheet

Denmark In Denmark Wintershall is planning the Hibonite exploration well in summer 2012 in the western section of the Danish North Sea after the Ravn-3 exploration well confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons at a depth at 4,469 meters in 2009. The seismic surveys carried out in exploration block 4/06 are currently being evaluated. Wintershall Noordzee is the operator with a 35 percent share. Netherlands Wintershall is one of the largest producers of natural gas in the Netherlands and operates at total of 25 offshore installations there. To improve the efficiency of its operations Wintershall controls 18 of these platforms from Den Helder with a cutting-edge radio surveillance and control system. Following the launch of the Wingate platform in the UK, the Centre for Remote Controlled Operations (RCO) now controls facilities in three different countries and a total of 20 platform: in addition to the 18 platforms in the Dutch North Sea, one platform in the German North Sea and the Wingate platform in the southern British North Sea. This surveillance and control method reduces the number of transportation and provisions flights to the platforms by a third. The RCO is a key requirement for the commercial production of smaller reserves in the southern section of the North Sea. Rijswijk, near The Hague, is home to the company-wide Competence Center for Offshore Technology. Here Wintershall is also working on developing its shallow-water expertise. The development of off-shore expertise is generally gaining importance in the exploration and production of oil and gas, and this expertise is applied to activities in other regions of the world. Production platform E18-A is one of several Wintershall projects in the Dutch North Sea that shows that environmental protection and profitability are not mutually exclusive when it comes to gas production. A large part of this platform is made up of the decommissioned gas production platform P14-A, which was dismantled from its home in the Dutch North Sea, fully converted and re-deployed in Block E18-A in 2009. In February 2012 Wintershall has launched natural gas production from the K18-Golf field. As part of a so-called subsea completion, Wintershall initially plans to produce around 1.0 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. This summer the second production well K18-G4 in the northern extent of the

Wintershall Holding GmbH Press and Public Seite von 4 Relations

P.O. Box 10 40 20 34112 Kassel, Germany

Phone: +49 561 301-3301 Fax: +49 561 301-1321

E&P in Brief
A Wintershall Fact Sheet

field will be spudded and is set to maintain plateau production between 1.0 and 1.4 million cubic meters of natural gas per day. Germany The Mittelplate production platform in the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage region in Schleswig-Holstein, is the only drilling and oil production platform in German waters. The offshore field, in which Wintershall and RWE Dea each hold a 50 percent interest, is the cornerstone of oil production in Germany. With more than 1.4 million tons of crude oil a year (2011), the reservoir provides a large share of total production in Germany and proves that extraction of natural resources and environmental protection can go hand in hand. With proven initial reserves of over 200 million barrels, the Mittelplate oil field is Germany's largest known oil deposit. The development of this field was continued in recent years with extended reach drilling from land. In addition, Wintershall operates platform A6-A in the so-called Entenschnabel (Ducks Bill) in the far north-west of the German North Sea. It is the only offshore gas production platform in Germany and produced around 280 million cubic meters of natural gas in 2011.
These and other images are available for downloading at www.wintershall.com in the press section.

Wintershall Holding GmbH Press and Public Seite von 4 Relations

P.O. Box 10 40 20 34112 Kassel, Germany

Phone: +49 561 301-3301 Fax: +49 561 301-1321