Overview

• Germany’s federal cabinet approved on July 2 a treaty with the Netherlands enabling One-Dyas to extend drilling from a Dutch platform into German seabed for gas extraction
• The Lower Saxony mining authority granted the project an 18-year permit in 2024, and the treaty now provides the legal framework for transboundary extraction ahead of Bundestag ratification
• The Administrative Court of Oldenburg authorized immediate enforcement of two nature-conservation exemptions that allow One-Dyas to lay an offshore power cable, though appeals are pending
• Conservation groups including Schutzgemeinschaft Deutsche Nordseeküste and Deutsche Umwelthilfe have filed lawsuits at the Higher Administrative Court in Lüneburg to block the project over risks to the UNESCO Wadden Sea
• The cabinet’s decision reverses former Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s August 2024 pledge to await court rulings before signing the agreement