Dutch to shut quake-hit Groningen gas output by 2022

The Dutch government said Friday it will cut gas extraction from Europe’s largest field to a trickle before closing the tap completely in 2022 following a slew of damaging earthquakes.

Gas mining from the Groningen field is to be reduced to three billion cubic metres (135 cubic feet) by 2021, while victims would be compensated and buildings reinforced, the Dutch cabinet said in a statement.

“Gas extraction in 2021-2022 will drop to three billion cubic metres,” it said after its weekly meeting, reiterating “as from the summer of 2022 there will be no gas required from the Groningen field.”

Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s four-party coalition in September announced that it would halt gas production from Groningen, which in 2013 still provided 53.9 billion cubic metres of natural gas.

Traumatised by tremors, residents in the northern province have been calling on the state for years to close down the huge field.

Large-scale gas mining has set off hundreds of small magnitude earthquakes, believed to be the result of huge air pockets created underground because of gas extraction.

As a result, more than 900 homes and buildings were damaged in Groningen, particularly from 2011 onwards, which prompted furious protests.

Last year, the area was hit by more than 80 quakes, according to official figures.

The government is trying to get gas production down to zero as quickly as possible because the safety of Groningen’s residents is paramount,” cabinet said.

A commission of legal experts appointed by Dutch Economic Affairs Minister Eric Wiebes has also completed work into how compensation could be paid to victims, it added.

Their advice is to be handed to an independent mining institute charged with finalising how the payments could be made.

Meanwhile, the government was also tabling legislation that would make it quicker and easier to reinforce buildings in Groningen, cutting a lengthy process to obtain permits by at least two months.