German oil and gas producers are urging the government to overturn a de facto four year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. A proposed law would allow commercial scale fracking at depths below 3000 meters.

The proposal is sure to be controversial as environmental groups see it is a wedge for increased fossil fuel production, while the gas industry welcomes the proposal. The environment ministry has promised strict environmental audits and a ban on drilling in water conservation areas.

The Ukraine crisis has stoked fears in Germany about security of their energy supplies, imports of natural gas from Russia accounted for 37 percent of Germany’s supply in 2014. Germany is thought to have 2.3 trillion cubic meters of shale gas reserves and the industry could potentially create 20,000 jobs.

German industry fears that a continued ban on hydrofracking will undermine technology development in conventional oil and gas.

“For German oil and gas companies, technology is a competitive advantage,” said Martin Bachmann of BASF. “You can’t be credible in the world, though, with a technology if you can’t show you are using it at home.” As reported by Reuters