ANPGas platform on the North Sea
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:30
Rob Coster
Economics reporter
Rob Coster
Economics reporter
In order to be less dependent on foreign gas, the government is considering playing a greater role in gas extraction in the North Sea. The government currently still has a minority share in all oil and gas projects on land and in the Dutch part of the North Sea.
Due to the earthquake risk, 500 billion cubic meters of gas remains in the Groningen soil. About 100 billion cubic meters of gas can still be extracted under the North Sea. Dutch households and companies currently consume approximately 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
A third of that consumption now comes from the North Sea, but that share is rapidly decreasing. Offshore gas extraction, i.e. gas extraction at sea, is more expensive than pumping gas from the Groningen field. Due to the low gas prices before the gas crisis, companies’ investments in offshore gas extraction were already declining. But even with today’s high gas prices, there is little interest in gas extraction in the North Sea.
NOS
Lengthy permitting processes and lawsuits from environmental organizations make companies wary of new gas drilling at sea. The oil and gas industry finds it more attractive to invest in the exploitation of offshore gas fields in the United Kingdom and Norway. These countries have recently given permission for new gas drilling and, according to the industry, have more attractive conditions than the Netherlands.
In the video you can see how gas extraction in the North Sea takes place 60 kilometers above Terschelling:
100 billion cubic meters of gas in the North Sea, but companies don’t want it
The outgoing Dutch cabinet wants to extract the last remains of North Sea gas as quickly as possible. Although the government ultimately wants to get rid of gas, about 87 percent of households are still dependent on natural gas to heat their home.
Alternatives with residual heat and geothermal energy are slow to get off the ground. For the time being, natural gas is still needed and it would be better to come from our own country, is the reasoning.
NOS
Recently, researchers at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies have discovered the benefits of this listed. For example, methane emissions from domestic gas extraction are more than 30 percent lower than those from imported liquefied gas (LNG). North Sea gas also ensures that the Netherlands is less dependent on foreign countries. Furthermore, own gas extraction has a dampening effect on the extreme fluctuations in the gas price.
Last North Sea gas
To convince companies, State Secretary Vijlbrief of Economic Affairs and Climate wants to speed up the permit procedures and increase the role of Energy Management Netherlands (EBN). EBN now participates on behalf of the government for 40 percent in all oil and gas projects on land and in the Dutch part of the North Sea.
In this way, a large part of the proceeds from oil and gas extraction flows to the state treasury via EBN. Together with the oil and gas companies, it is now being investigated whether a majority stake in EBN can facilitate the exploitation of new gas fields. The interest could in theory even rise to 100 percent for some drillings, with oil and gas companies being hired for the implementation.
Elections determine
The investigation must be completed before the end of the year so that it can be part of the negotiations for a cabinet after the November elections.
Not everyone in The Hague is in favor of gas extraction. The GroenLinks-PvdA combination even wants a legal ban on tapping new gas fields because of the climate.
The VVD wants to expand natural gas extraction in the North Sea to reduce dependence on foreign countries. Pieter Omtzigt and his New Social Contract party also want to use North Sea gas to protect Dutch consumers against major price fluctuations.
‘Sustainable electricity better’
Opponents, including Greenpeace, believe that new gas drilling is not only bad for the climate, but also makes little sense. They say that the gas shortage is mainly a problem for the coming years due to the closure of the Groningen field and the ban on Russian gas.
Because it takes a number of years for new drillings to produce gas, they consider new drillings pointless. Accelerating the transition to sustainable electricity and energy savings is therefore better than tapping into new gas fields, say the opponents.
If there is to be any return from investments in new gas drilling, proponents believe that haste is required. With the closure of existing offshore gas fields, some of the pipelines on the bottom of the North Sea that transport the gas to the mainland will also disappear. According to the industry, it is now or never.
2023-10-19 16:30:32
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