Netherlands permanently closes large Groningen gas field due to earthquake risk
Kyiv • UNN
Due to frequent earthquakes caused by gas production, the Netherlands has permanently closed the Groningen gas field, one of the largest in Europe. The decision was made despite legal challenges from Shell and ExxonMobil.
Netherlands closes one of the largest gas fields in Europe
The Dutch Senate has decided to permanently close the Groningen gas field, responding to the government's previous promises not to resume gas production due to the threat of earthquakes in the province of Groningen. UNN writes with reference to DW.
Details
The Senate of the Netherlands has officially decided to stop production at the Groningen gas field. This decision was made on Tuesday, April 16, by the upper house of the country's parliament.
The move was a response to the government's previous commitment not to resume gas production in Groningen province due to the threat of earthquakes. Shell and ExxonMobil, which manage the operator of the Groningen gas field, filed a lawsuit in arbitration.
The court will determine whether the Dutch government should pay compensation to the companies for the fact that significant gas reserves will remain after the field is closed. One of the largest gas fields in Europe was shut down in October 2023, but 11 wells remained active in case of an "extremely cold winter" and due to the "unstable international situation" related to Russia's military conflict in Ukraine.
The decision to close the field was made due to frequent earthquakes caused by gas production. In 2013, production volumes at the field were increased to almost 54 billion cubic meters, despite the fact that the strongest earthquake in the history of the region had struck Groningen a year earlier.
After another strong earthquake in 2018, the government decided to halt all mining operations. Since 1986, gas production in Groningen has triggered about 1,600 earthquakes, damaging tens of thousands of buildings and affecting approximately one hundred thousand people, according to a parliamentary report.
Over this time, the field has produced approximately 2.3 trillion cubic meters of gas.
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