The Dutch authorities will stop gas production at the largest field in Western Europe no later than October 2024. About it Financial Times Hans Weilbrief, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics and Climate Policy of the Netherlands, said.
We are talking regarding the Groningen field, which has been operating since 1963. The field operator is NAM, a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil. At its peak, the field produced 50 billion cubic meters. m of gas, but now, by decision of the authorities of the Netherlands, production is limited at the level of 2.8 billion cubic meters. They wanted to close the field in 2023 due to the threat of earthquakes: since the 1980s, up to 100 tremors have been recorded in this area.
Due to the energy crisis in Europe, the closure of the field had to be postponed until 2024. Dutch Minister Heinz Weilbrif assured that following the closure of the field, his country will not face a gas shortage. The Netherlands has signed deals to import gas from the US, Norway and Qatar.
In addition, the Dutch government plans to take measures to encourage companies to develop new gas fields on the North Sea shelf. At the same time, gas consumption in the Netherlands is falling: in 2022 it decreased by 22% compared to the previous year.
