Discovery Natural gas was initially mainly a by-product of
petroleum, which was more economically attractive. In 1948, the (NAM), jointly owned by
Shell and
Esso, discovered a natural gas field in the Netherlands for the first time near
Coevorden. This gave rise to the expectation that more natural gas fields could be found in the Netherlands. In the north and east of the country they searched for gas fields, including near the later Groningen gas field. In 1954 and 1955, drilling at
Haren and yielded nothing. On 24 October 1955, when seeking oil at
Thesinge, natural gas was found in the
Zechstein formation, but they drilled 40 to 50 meters too little to discover the Groningen gas field. On 29 May 1959, the NAM started exploratory research on land owned by farmer Kees Boon, near
Kolham in the municipality of
Slochteren. Two months later on July 22, the drilling led to the discovery of natural gas for the first time. Initially it received little media attention, because little was known about the field's size at the time. The
flaring did attract local attention. The fact that it was a large gas field became clear when gas was found near
Delfzijl in 1960. The properties of that natural gas matched those of Slochteren, so had to be the same gas field. These findings about the size were initially kept secret, also from NAM shareholder
Esso. The size was not made public until 14 October 1960. A
Belgian newspaper reported on a speech by Belgian
Member of the European Parliament Victor Leemans, in which he mentioned that the Netherlands had found a gas field of 300 billion m3. The cabinet responded to parliamentary questions that a large amount of natural gas had indeed been found, but kept it at 60 billion m3. Behind closed doors, it was then estimated at a maximum of 100 billion m3. In the plan, the foundations were also laid for the establishment of the
Gasunie. 10% of its shares were directly owned by the Dutch state, 40% by the
Staatsmijnen and 50% shared by Shell and Esso. The Gasunie was given the task of laying a pipeline network to connect the whole of the Netherlands to Groningen gas. In cities where
town gas was already being used, the existing pipes were used. In December 1968, it was celebrated that
Egmond aan Zee was the last municipality to be connected to Groningen natural gas. A Cooperation Agreement was signed on 4 March 1963 by the Staatsmijnen, NAM, Shell and Esso. In this agreement, further agreements were written down between the parties. On 30 May 1963 the concession was then granted to NAM.
Resistance The plans were largely supported by the Dutch House of Representatives. Only the Groningen Member of Parliament noted that gas extraction in the
United States and
Italy had led to
subsidence. According to De Pous this was not the case with the Groningen gas field and this would otherwise be reimbursed by the NAM and Staatsmijnen. In an article in the
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden,
engineer Willem Meiborg warned on 8 November 1963 about subsidence. He predicted subsidence of up to one meter. He asked to set aside money for the consequences. Publicly, NAM denied Meiborg's prediction, but secretly ordered an investigation. The investigation confirmed that subsidence could occur, as much as 1.5 meters. The research was shared with the province of Groningen, but was not made public. It only became public when
D66 Member of Parliament
Jan Terlouw found out about the research in 1972 and asked parliamentary questions about it. . On paper, the discovery of the gas field made Groningen the richest region in the Netherlands. Some in Groningen were pleased with the jobs created by gas extraction. Others thought that the economically disadvantaged province was not benefiting enough from the extraction. The natural gas revenues flowed into the national budget, which created the sentiment that Groningen was being used as a '''', roughly meaning "exploitation territory" or an area exploited for resources without any beneficial returns. Prominently,
CPN politician
Fré Meis from Groningen complained about what he regarded as injustice. Between 1972 and 1980, the CPN therefore organized four instances of a to draw attention to this. This sentiment returned regularly in the decades that followed. , 1982 Initially it was expected that
nuclear energy would eventually replace the use of natural gas. Efforts were made to sell natural gas as quickly as possible, both at home and abroad. In the mid-1970s, this policy was revised after the
oil crisis of 1973 and the great social
resistance to the deployment of nuclear energy. That is why the desire arose to keep the Groningen gas field as a reserve. Therefore, the small fields policy was introduced in 1974. The aim of this policy was to extract more natural gas from smaller fields, including in the North Sea, to limit the production in the Groningen gas field. Because small fields entailed higher operating costs, the Dutch government reduced its profit share to make exploitation more attractive. Local politician argued that there was a connection between gas extraction in the Groningen field and the earthquake. On 4 December 1991, the first induced earthquake of the Groningen field was measured, with a magnitude of 2.4 on the
Richter scale. In 1993, after research, NAM recognized a link between earthquakes and gas extraction. In the following decades, the number of induced earthquakes increased. Along with the earthquakes, resistance against gas extraction also increased. For example, the was founded in 2009 in response to the . because of the danger of collapse after earthquakes. The NAM bought the farm in 2017 and gave it to ''''. According to a 2015 report by the
Dutch Safety Board, until 2013, "the safety of the citizens of Groningen in relation to induced earthquakes had not influenced decision-making about the exploitation of the Groningen field." A tipping point was the on 16 August 16 2012. With an estimated
moment magnitude of 3.6, it was the largest earthquake measured above the Groningen gas field. After the earthquake, the (SodM) concluded that the earthquakes in the area could become stronger in the future, between 4 and 5 on the Richter scale. SodM recommended limiting gas extraction quickly, and as much as possible. (2012-2017) In January 2013, the Minister of Economic Affairs
Henk Kamp decided not to limit gas extraction immediately, but requested fourteen investigations. The report also coincided with
austerity measures, which made the government reluctant to reduce natural gas revenues. At the end of the year it was announced that about 10% more gas, 54 billion cubic meters, had been extracted than previous years, according to the NAM because of the cold.
Phasing out gas production In 2014, gas production from the Groningen gas field was limited due to earthquakes for the first time. In January 2014, Kamp announced that it would limit production to 42.5 billion m3 in 2014. At the beginning of 2015, the Dutch cabinet decided that a maximum of 39.4 billion m3 of gas could be produced from the gas field in that calendar year, which was further reduced to 30 billion m3 in June 2015. In November 2015, the
Council of State lowered the limit to 27 billion m3. A month later, Kamp decided to maintain this maximum. In September 2016 it was subsequently decided to further limit gas extraction to 21.6 billion m3. A year later, the Council of State concluded that this decision was insufficiently motivated and that it had to be renewed. (2017-2021) In October 2017,
Eric Wiebes became the new Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate. Three months into his term, Wiebes had to deal with the . It was the third strongest in magnitude, but was perceived as stronger due to higher
ground acceleration. In March 2018, Wiebes announced that gas extraction in the Groningen field had to be reduced to zero by 2030 at the latest. The extraction plan was again rejected by the Council of State in July 2019. Wiebes then announced an accelerated phasing out, whereby gas extraction would be stopped by 2022 during normal winters. Not much later, however, this turned out to be too optimistic. As of 2021, the expectation was that the Groningen field would be closed between 2025 and 2028; this timeline was accelerated in 2023, with a target closure date of 1 October 2023. The was established in 2014 to further distance the claims handling process from NAM. And as the central point of contact,
Hans Alders was appointed in 2015 as . Despite these measures, claims handling and reinforcement are progressing slowly. In 2020, the SodM calculated that the reinforcement operation will take another 20 years, but the Inspector General of the SodM demanded that these should be completed by 2028. In October 2021,
National Ombudsman called the issue a "national crisis". The gas extraction of the Groningen gas field and the problems it has caused is as of 2021 subject of the
parliamentary inquiry into natural gas extraction Groningen.
Investor-state dispute settlement claim In , Shell launched an arbitration claim against the Netherlands government under the provisions of the
Energy Charter Treaty for potentially billions of euros in compensation in respect of the mandated closure of the gas field. The case will be heard behind closed doors.
Research In 2018, a research programme by the
Dutch Research Council, called DeepNL, was initiated to look into the long term consequences of the winning of gas in the Groningen gas field. Specific research projects included subsidence, risk analysis, and
earthquake forecasting. With the individual projects being planned for four to five years. Programme coordinator and geophysicist
Rinus Wortel called it comparable with the Dutch efforts of protection from the sea. == Geology ==