Wintershall Dea becomes main sponsor of the North Hesse School Student Research Centre

Wintershall Dea is sponsoring the STEM Student Congress staged by the North Hesse School Student Research Centre (SFN) once again. This year’s event, with its focal topic of “Technology of the Future”, will be held on 17 and 18 June 2019 and once more brings together many budding researchers, external speakers, guests and interested youngsters. Participants can also join in workshops held by the SFN’s teams. The now 45 employees in the educational initiative have been providing practical training for school students in the various disciplines of the STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) since 2012.

Wintershall Dea is sponsoring the STEM Student Congress for the fourth time. As in previous years, board member Thilo Wieland will attend in person and open the event: “As a global natural gas and crude oil producer with its home here in Kassel, it’s great for us to see the high-calibre contribution our youngsters are making to invigorate Kassel as a high-tech and energy location. We’re delighted to support the SFN, which gives young researchers such great freedom to follow their curiosity and unfold their innovativeness”.

Wintershall Dea to double sponsorship from 2020

The company has also decided to place its cooperation with the SFN on an even broader footing.  From 2020, Wintershall Dea will not only support the Student Congress in its capacity as main sponsor of the School Student Research Centre, but also the regular work of the educational initiative to an annual amount of €25,000. “We at Wintershall Dea are a new European champion and believe we have an even greater obligation to foster international cooperation, research and understanding, as well as intercultural exchange. We demonstrate that with our support for the SFN’s cooperation with School No. 17 in Novy Urengoy, Western Siberia. And we aim to underscore that with this sponsorship”, says Wieland. Klaus-Peter Haupt, Head of the SFN, adds: “We at SFN not only have a mission to promote education, but also help build bridges. We’re delighted we can fulfil that social duty even better thanks to Wintershall Dea’s support. The sponsorship will ensure SFN can continue its work from 2020 and enable additional research projects and cooperation ventures – including across borders. We feel it’s very important to underscore our commitment to international understanding through research and dialogue”. 

The SFN and School No. 17 in Novy Urengoy have collaborated since 2017. As part of an annual exchange programme, pupils from Germany and Russia jointly conduct research and take part in international competitions. German pupils were recently in Russia and now their counterparts will return the visit in October. This cooperation is unique in the STEM field and a key pillar in the city cooperation between Kassel and Novy Urengoy, which was extended by a further three years at the beginning of this June.

You can find more information on the 10th STEM Student Congress at: https://sfn-kassel.de/

_{About Wintershall Dea}

_{With the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, two successful companies with a long tradition have formed Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company: Wintershall Dea. The company with German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg explores for and produces gas and oil in 13 countries worldwide in an efficient and responsible manner. With activities in Europe, Russia, Latin America and the MENA region (Middle East & North Africa), Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and, with its participation in natural gas transport, is also active in the midstream business.}

_{Wintershall Dea stands for more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner along the entire E&P value chain. The company employs around 4,000 people worldwide from over 60 nations. The company plans to increase its average daily production from around 590,000 barrels of oil equivalent to a range of 750,000 to 800,000 barrels in the period between 2021 and 2023. In the medium term, an initial public offering of Wintershall Dea is envisaged.}