The Netherlands to close the largest natural gas field in continental Europe, despite the crisis
The Dutch government plans to shut down the Groningen gas field this year, despite Europe's precarious supply position. Groningen is the largest gas field in Europe. The field is dangerous, a government official in The Hague told the Financial Times, and the government has no intention of increasing its production, in fact it wants to extinguish it.
“We will not open any more due to security concerns,” Hans Vijbrief told the FT. “It is politically completely unworkable. But other than that, I won't because it means increasing the chances of earthquakes, which I don't want to be responsible for."
Groningen's production has been reduced substantially, and due to increased seismic activity in the vicinity of the field, a plan was already in place to eliminate it altogether even before the onset of the energy crisis in 2021. When prices started to climb in autumn 2021 and then took off in spring 2022, some started speculating that the Netherlands could keep the field running to help fill the gas supply gap left by pipeline supplies Russians.
From the outset, the Dutch government was skeptical about keeping it running and instead suggested extending production, albeit at a minimum rate of around 2.8 billion cubic meters. “It's very, very simple: all those who have some knowledge of seismic danger tell me that it is really very dangerous to continue producing there. I am convinced that it is wise to close,” Vijbrief told the FT.
Since the 1980s, the FT notes, there have been around 100 earthquakes a year around Groningen, resulting in more than 150,000 property damage claims. The operator of the field, a Shell-Exxon joint venture, was ordered to begin reducing production in 2013, ahead of the field's permanent closure.
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The article The Netherlands to close the largest natural gas field in continental Europe despite the crisis comes from Scenarios Economics .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/i-paesi-bassi-chiuderanno-il-piu-grande-campo-di-gas-naturale-nelleuropa-continentale-nonostante-la-crisi/ on Mon, 23 Jan 2023 16:44:51 +0000.