The most important energy source in the GDR was lignite. But it was mainly the chemical industry and its processes that needed oil, which was obtained from the Soviet Union. In order to build up its own oil industry, the country was traversed by test drillings. In 1961 a search well in Reinkenhagen near Grimmen, in what is now the district of Vorpommern-Rügen, struck an economically recoverable deposit at a depth of 2,300 metres. Following the discovery of this deposit, further deposits were developed in the immediate vicinity or on the same geological structure. These included the "Lütow" deposit on the island of Usedom, the most important deposit in the GDR. While this is still being exploited today, oil production in the Grimmen region was stopped in 1996 for economic reasons.
In 1994, the Reinkenhagen Oil Museum opened in the social building of the former field headquarters. It is owned by the municipality of Sundhagen, but the only oil museum in the former GDR is operated by committed volunteers, former employees of the Grimmen oil company. Illustrated panels, documents and relics from GDR times trace the development of the region's oil and gas industry and the history of a former state-owned oil company from 1962 to 2001. Numerous original tools and large exhibits are on display on the 6,400 square metre outdoor area, including a deep pump drive with probe head equipment, a complete mobile test facility, a huge flushing pump and a huge drill drive unit.
Reinkenhagen Oil Museum
Alte Dorfstrasse 10
18519 Sundhagen
Germany
+49 (0) 38328 - 70500
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