Field Trip 4

Discover the fascinating origins of Europe’s petroleum industry on a field trip to the Tar Pits of Hänigsen and the German Petroleum Museum in Wietze. This excursion offers a unique opportunity to explore the geological history of natural hydrocarbon systems and the technological evolution of oil production in Northern Germany.

The field trip begins at the German Petroleum Museum in Wietze, located on one of Europe’s oldest and most significant onshore oil fields. This unique site preserves extensive remains of historic drilling and production infrastructure, offering direct insight into the geological setting, extraction history, and industrial development of petroleum in the region. Wietze represents a key reference point for understanding the evolution of onshore hydrocarbon systems in Central Europe.

From there, the excursion continues to the Tar Pits of Hänigsen, one of the earliest documented natural oil seep sites in Northern Germany. Here, surface expressions of bitumen and oil illustrate long-term hydrocarbon migration processes and the interaction between geology and early human resource use. Together, both sites provide a continuous narrative from natural seepage systems to industrial-scale extraction, linking geological processes with the technological foundations of the energy industry and its ongoing transition.

Bridging geological heritage with contemporary energy discussions, the field trip provides valuable insight into subsurface resources, industrial innovation, and the changing role of geoscience and engineering in the energy transition.