Finally, by the mid of May our plane took off to the North. For sure we had to start our trip with a night out at the famous ‘Reeperbahn’, although getting up the next day was really hard. However, on the second day we went to the warehouse district and as well did a harbor cruise. We all were fascinated by the huge redbrick houses and the hurly-burly of the harbor life. Especially the ‘Elbphilharmonie’, which is going to be a huge concert hall, is worth a look.
On the third day we finally started our petroleum related trips and first went to the ‘Erdöl Museum’ in Wietze. It was really nice so all the old equipment and compare it to the techniques we use nowadays. As soon-to-be professionals we even were allowed to go on an old land rig, which is built up in front of the museum. The next day half of us went to visit the Fangmann Group in Salzwedel, where we heard a lot of interest facts about energy services. The other half of us had to get up really early. It was the first day to visit the ‘Mittelplate’ Offshore Platform, which clearly was going to be a highlight of our trip. The platform is equally run by two german companies, DEA and Wintershall. Per year the Mittelplate oilfield produces around 1,4 million tons of oil. We had the chance to talk to the workers in the dog house while they were drilling, as well as see every other important part of the platform before the boat took us back to Cuxhaven in the evening. On our last day the second eight students went offshore, while the rest got the opportunity to spend a day with the professionals from the DEA headquarters in Hamburg, which was the perfect closure for our field trip.
A big thank you goes to all the students who took part, and especially to the companies, which made it possible to explore the petroleum world of Northern Germany in only five days.
