Due to the current geopolitical situation, it is the declared goal of the German government to make Germany independent of Russian energy imports as quickly as possible.

Against this background, the two transmission system operators Gasunie Deutschland (GUD), Open Grid Europe (OGE) and the storage operator STORAG ETZEL (STE) want to investigate a joint further development of the existing pipeline route between the Wilhelmshaven site and the Etzel storage facility (here: new construction of the "SEAL - Speicher Etzel Anbindungsleitung") as a supplementary infrastructure measure.

The focus here is on methane and hydrogen transport. A further pipeline connection in addition to the "Wilhelmshavener Anbindungsleitung" (WAL) between Wilhelmshaven and Etzel would enable the transport of very large quantities of gas and, at a later date, the parallel transport of natural gas and simultaneously increasing quantities of hydrogen.

The project is currently being investigated in a preliminary study in the "SEAL" project with regard to economic, technical, licensing and energy aspects.