The Netherlands is expected to permanently close the huge Groningen natural gas field, the Dutch Senate announced this week.
Groningen, one of the largest gas fields in Europe, caused earthquakes and damage to local communities for more than 20 years, which created debate among politicians, local residents and gas industry supporters for years about whether to continue Groningen production.
The Dutch Senate said a ban on extracting gas from the Groningen field would come into force on Oct. 1, at the start of the 2024-2025 gas year.
Groningen, a major supplier to Europe, reached a peak production of 88 billion cubic meters in 1976. But the government decided to shut the field in 2018, and decreased production over the years, leaving 18 wells open last year to meet emergency winter demand. Groningen was discovered in 1959 and started production in 1963. It is operated by a joint venture between Shell plc and ExxonMobil.
Dutch gas exports represented around 6% of European gas imports in 2021, and Groningen’s gas production contributed nearly 25-30% of Dutch gas production.
The new law would leave huge reserves in the ground and could jeopardize the country's security of supply, according to Dutch transmission system operator Gasunie Transport Services BV (GTS), manager of the country’s gas transmission system and its two LNG import terminals.
“We recently advised the government on a future without Russian gas and without Groningen gas,” said GTS spokesperson Marie-Lou Gregoire. “A continuous sufficient gas supply and well-filled gas storage facilities for the winter periods are needed to guarantee security of supply.”
Gregoire told NGI that for the next two years, GTS forecast gas shortages as demand currently exceeds supply, recommending the government set gas volume requirements for storage facilities, especially if future winters are colder than average.
“Without Groningen and Russian gas, there is an important role for liquefied natural gas and gas storage for the coming years,” she added. “The volume shortage could be solved by creating additional supply with higher pipeline utilization rates by expanding or maintaining existing LNG terminals, or providing new LNG terminals.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, supply from Russia to Northwestern Europe has been severely reduced, forcing the Netherlands and others in the region to increase imports from Norway and LNG imports through the Gate terminal in Rotterdam and the floating EemsEnergyTerminal.
The Netherlands became the third-largest European LNG importer last year after France and Spain.
In 2023, the Netherlands imported 16.20 million tons (Mt) of the super-chilled fuel with more than 70%, or 11.60 Mt of LNG received from the United States, according to Kpler data. That’s triple the amount the country imported from the United States in 2021. More than 75% of total LNG imports to the Netherlands this year came from the United States.
A third import terminal, proposed by Rotterdam-based Storage operator VTTI BV and floating LNG specialist Höegh LNG, is planned for the Zeeland facility offshore at the Vlissingen port in southern Netherlands. VTTI expects the facility to launch operations in the second half of 2027.
