Editing DEA AG (section)

=== The early years ===
[[File:Deutsche Erdöl-AG 1920.jpg|thumb|Share of the Deutsche Erdoel-AG, issued 30. December 1920]]
''Deutsche Tiefbohr-Actiengesellschaft'' was founded in [[Berlin]] on 10 January 1899.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG ist 120 Jahre alt - Fusion in Planung|url=https://www.presseportal.de/pm/116249/4162488|last=|first=|date=|website=Presseportal|access-date=2020-05-30}}</ref><ref>Rainer Karlsch, Raymond G. Stokes: ''Faktor Öl. Die Mineralölwirtschaft in Deutschland 1859-1974.'' (“The Factor Oil: The Mineral Oil industry in Germany from 1859 to 1974 (German Only)) C. H. Beck, Munich 2003, {{ISBN|978-3-406-50276-7}}</ref> In 1900 the headquarter was relocated to [[Nordhausen, Thuringia|Nordhausen]].<ref name=":1">James, H.; Müller, M.L.; Historische Gesellschaft der Deutschen Bank e.V.: "Georg Solmssen - ein deutscher Bankier: Briefe aus einem halben Jahrhundert 1900-1956" (Georg Solmssen - a german banker: letters from half of a century 1900-1956), C.H.Beck, 31 May 2012, references.</ref> The new company specialised in all types of mineral oil product and, among other things, raw [[lignite]], [[briquette]]s for domestic heating and industry, lignite tar and [[Paraffin wax|paraffin]]. Its managing director was the [[Krefeld]] businessman Rudolf Nöllenburg.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Wintershall Dea - History|url=http://wintershalldea.com/en/who-we-are/history|website=Wintershall Dea GmbH|language=en|access-date=2020-05-30}}</ref>
 
It first struck oil with a well of its own in 1901, in 1906 [[Petroleum|crude oil]] is officially declared the new main business.<ref name=":2" /> Since 1907 the companies headquarters were again moved to Berlin.<ref name=":1" /> In 1911, ''DTA'' and its subsidiary ''Vereinigte Norddeutsche Mineralölwerke AG'' were merged with ''Deutsche Mineralölindustrie AG'' to create ''Deutsche Erdoel-Actiengesellschaft (DEA)'', based in Berlin.<ref name=":2" /><ref>Rainer Karlsch, Raymond G. Stokes: ''Faktor Öl. Die Mineralölwirtschaft in Deutschland 1859-1974.'' (“The Factor Oil: The Mineral Oil industry in Germany from 1859 to 1974 (German Only)) C. H. Beck, Munich 2003, {{ISBN|978-3-406-50276-7}}, p.66 et seq.</ref>
 
DEA had stakes in oil fields in [[Alsace]], [[Austria-Hungary]] and [[Romania]] from 1905/1906, but lost most of its foreign production when the [[World War I]] broke out. However, DEA drilled the world's first oil shaft – in [[Merkwiller-Pechelbronn|Pechelbronn]] in Alsace – in 1917. Unlike extraction close to the surface or by means of wells, this involved the first-ever application of the complex shaft construction method, in which oil is “mined”.<ref name=":2" /> However, domestic oil production was not able to secure the company's survival and so DEA focused on coal mining until the early 1930s.<ref>Weber, F.: "''Warum hat sich in Deutschland kein integrierter nationaler Mineralölkonzern herausgebildet?''" (Why did no national oil company evolve in Germany?), diplom.de, 20 Jul 2004, p.14.</ref>