ONE-Dyas successful with CMS: Action by Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe) against gas extraction off Borkum dismissed
Hamburg – On 21 April 2026 Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court (OVG) dismissed the action brought by Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe) against the planning approval order issued by the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology of 13 August 2024 for directional drilling and the extraction of natural gas from the German part of the cross-border natural gas field in the German-Dutch sector of the North Sea off Borkum.
A CMS team led by Dr Christiane Kappes represented ONE-Dyas, interested third party and project developer, in the proceedings before the Higher Administrative Court. ONE-Dyas is a Dutch energy company specialising in the extraction of natural gas in the North Sea and the implementation of innovative technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, to transform the energy sector. The CMS team had already advised ONE-Dyas comprehensively on the planning approval procedure for the project.
ONE-Dyas has constructed an offshore gas production platform (N05-A) in Dutch territorial waters for cross-border natural gas production in the German-Dutch sector of the North Sea. The platform is powered by renewable electricity from the Riffgat offshore wind farm. The project is part of the GEMS (Gateway to the Ems) project which, in addition to the N05-A field, also encompasses other gas fields in the North Sea. With an expected total production volume of around 50 billion Nm³ of natural gas, the GEMS project is making a significant contribution towards securing and diversifying the energy supply. Domestic production, carried out in compliance with the strictest environmental standards, reduces dependence on imports and is clearly preferable to importing LNG, which is far more harmful to the climate. The German government has reaffirmed its particular interest in domestic gas production and, in the coalition agreement, expressed its support for exploiting domestic potential.
The Higher Administrative Court dismissed all the claimants' objections to the lawfulness of the planning approval order. The project aimed at producing gas domestically was found to serve to ensure a secure and diversified gas supply in Germany and is necessary in the overriding public interest. The environmental impact assessment was correctly limited to directional drilling on German territory; however, it also takes sufficient account of the cross-border effects of the operation of the production platform in the Netherlands. There is nothing to criticise in the environmental impact assessments; in particular, the predicted subsidence of the seabed will not result in significant adverse effects on legally protected reefs in the surrounding Natura 2000 sites.
The case number at Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court is 7 KS 64/24. You can find more information on this matter on the Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court's website.
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