Dutch to lose $1.62bn in gas production cut in EU’s biggest field

20/12/2015 05:22 AST

A cut-back in natural gas production in the EU’s biggest gas field will cost the Netherlands a billion-and-a-half euros in lost revenue, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said. “It’s going to cost around 1.5 billion euros ($1.62 billion) next year, Dijsselbloem told the NOS public newscaster after a cabinet meeting.

“This mainly relates to a decision by the Council of State to close the gas valves quicker than expected,” he said, referring to the government’s top advisory body.

The Council last month ordered The Hague to review extraction of natural gas from the field, following a series of earth tremors causing residents in the northern Dutch province to fear for their lives.

It temporarily limited extraction to 27 billion cubic meters for 2016. Dutch Economics Affairs Minister Henk Kamp confirmed that the government will stick to the figure after government initially demanding a maximum of 33 billion cubic meters.

“We are closing the gas taps and are taking measures to ensure that in future we are less dependent on Groningen’s gas for our energy needs,” Kamp told a press conference. More than 40 individuals and groups had appealed to the Council of State to examine the minister’s decisions on the Groningen gas field, the largest in the European Union.

After Norway, the Netherlands is western Europe’s second-largest natural gas producer and by 2011 income from natural gas constituted 8.0 percent of the country’s total revenue.

But a slew of tremors over recent years resulting from collapse of empty underground pockets have frightened residents and caused major damage to homes and historical buildings in the area.

Although the quakes are of low magnitude, they often happen close to the earth’s surface.

Arab News