NGlobal Magazin 01-2010

Niedersachsen Global www.nglobal.de 18 Energy Committed to  Renewable Energies The Oldenburg-based EWE is one of the largest utility companies in  Germany with strong expertise in renewable energies. Interview with Dr. Werner Brinker, EWE AG by Inka Ziegenhagen Dr. Brinker, as early as the late 50s, EWE was using natural gas for heat- ing—a milestone in Germany’s national natural gas supply. What are the competencies that set EWE apart from the rest of the gas industry? How do you want to position yourselves in natural gas sales in the future? We have been consistently expanding our regional natural gas supply networks for decades and have achieved market penetration of 90 percent in the Weser/ Ems region. Natural gas will continue to play an important role in the coming dec- ades, not least as a source of energy with low levels of CO2 emissions. However, it will be increasingly important to use natural gas as economically as possible in the future. This will test our skill as a utility company with its own import agree- ments, natural gas storage facilities and efficient infrastructure, and will pose an ever-increasing challenge to our expertise as an energy supplier. EWE provides its customers with personal advice and tailored solutions, such as contracting, at over 40 sales offices throughout the region. Your company drummed up around five percent of all your gas sales last year. How are you looking to secure your procurement of natural gas in the long term? What kind of exploration and production activities do you have planned? We have been importing natural gas from Holland for 48 years now and use our natural gas storage facilities to trade natural gas volumes. This allows us a certain amount of flexibility. EWE has been producing natural gas in the Dutch North Sea since 1983 and has been continuously strengthening its involvement here in small stages over the last 15 years. We will continue to do this, but we’ll feel our way through the process one step at a time instead of doing it on a grand scale. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects there to be considerable excess capacity in the natural gas market in the future and is concerned that there might be an enormous price crash. What do you make of their prediction? The IEA developed this what-if scenario based on very specific assumptions. For example, they assumed that an increased supply of natural gas would cause the gas-producing countries to abandon oil-based pricing in long-term supply contracts. Although there is some initial movement towards more flexibility, we have to work with what is actually the case in our medium- term operational business—and that still is long-term import contracts with gas prices linked to the price of oil. Our capital expenditure is based on a long-term perspective which extends far behind the forecast- ing horizon used by the IEA. The global demand for energy and therefore natural gas will increase in the EWE AG 5th largest utility company in Germany Headquarters: Oldenburg (Niedersachsen) Shareholders: EWE AG 26% EnBW 74% Municipalities Source: EWE Business activities: Supply of electricity, natural gas, water supplies; gas transmission, trade and storage; environmental technology; telecommunication and information technologies Customers: 1m (electricity), 1.2m (natural gas) Home market: Northern Germany Expanding operations in: Eastern Germany, Poland and Turkey Employees: 5,300 Recorded sales: 5.3 billion euros