The Netherlands officially closes gas extraction from Groningen
The Groningen gas fields will be shut down on October 1 this year and will close permanently next October, the Dutch Mines Minister confirmed on Friday.
According to Dutch Mines Minister Hans Vijlbrief, the fields, which are scheduled to close on October 1, will remain in operation for another year, in case the country gets into energy difficulties due to a exceptionally cold winter, said Vijlbrief. But starting next October, the gas fields will be permanently closed and dismantled.
Vijlbrief cited years of problems with the reservoirs, including earthquakes. Earlier this year, Vijlbrief said that the idea of continuing to produce gas from Groningen is "completely unworkable politically" before adding that it also increases the possibility of earthquakes.
The country decided to phase out gas extraction in the province a couple of years ago due to earthquakes thought to be associated with natural gas extraction. But the increase in gas prices, following the energy crisis of the last two winters, has led to think that the province could keep the fields operational for a while longer.
The Netherlands today confirmed that they will keep the fields operational for a year beyond next October.
The province has experienced more than 1,000 earthquakes in the past two decades, while the government has collected the equivalent of 360 billion euros today from gas revenues. Another €66 billion went to oil and gas companies, Shell and Exxon. Shell and Exxon were notified in 2013 that they should begin reducing production and prepare to shut down the field completely. However, the 360 billion euros explain how easy it was for the Netherlands to become a tax haven.
Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands, has been pumping gas for more than half a century and supplied gas to 98% of the Dutch population as of 2019.
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The article The Netherlands officially shuts down gas extraction from Groningen is from Scenari Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/i-paesi-bassi-chiudono-ufficialmente-lestrazione-di-gas-da-groningen/ on Sun, 25 Jun 2023 06:00:50 +0000.