RTV Noord and Omrop Fryslân have jointly sought an answer to the question of what kind of player ONE-Dyas is when it comes to gas extraction.
The company ONE-Dyas BV arose from a merger between Oranje Nassau Energie and the oil and gas division of the family-owned company SHV. It is a prominent player with a world-class combined gas and oil production of 35,000 barrels per day.
Before the merger, both companies had been active for a long time. For example, Oranje Nassau Energie scoured the North Sea in search of gas and oil in small fields in the Dutch, British, Norwegian and German part, because large players are neglecting them. For example, drilling was recently carried out in the sea at the Maasvlakte near Rotterdam and now also at Schiermonnikoog.
Now the biggest
‘One-Dyas is now the largest privately owned Dutch exploitation and production company,’ reads the company’s website. Unlike NAM, where Shell and ExxonMobil are shareholders, ONE-Dyas is owned by private shareholders.
Owners ONE-Dyas
SHV owns 49 percent of the shares of One Dyas. SHV is largely in the hands of the wealthy entrepreneurial family Fentener van Vlissingen. The other 51 percent belongs to ONH BV. That belongs to the entrepreneurs Marcel van Poecke and Jan Onderdijk.
Former banker Rijkman Groenink also has an interest in this company. According to Quote 500, the entrepreneurs received 22.4 million euros in dividend from the proceeds of oil and gas drilling last year.
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We use the accumulated knowledge and experience to develop small North Sea fields safely and responsibly
One of the company’s goals is to make a profit.
ONE-Dyas claims to work in a responsible manner. ONE-Dyas uses the accumulated knowledge and experience of the area to develop small fields in the North Sea safely and responsibly, in order to make a useful and necessary contribution to the demand for energy,” said spokesperson Corine Toussaint on behalf of ONE-Dyas. .
According to ONE-Dyas, gas extraction in the North Sea cannot be compared with the Groningen gas field. ‘That is incomparable. The volume in the Groningen field is much, much larger. The background is also different. It’s a completely different project, also in terms of impact’, says Toussaint.
Why the North Sea?
More and more major players such as Shell, Dong and BP are reducing their operations in the North Sea. Because there are no more large gas fields and the demand for gas is decreasing. What moves ONE-Dyas to do it?
‘In the energy transition to a CO2-neutral energy supply in 2050, the Netherlands will still need natural gas, as is apparent from all the scenarios outlined. Dutch natural gas has many advantages compared to importing natural gas from abroad’, says Toussaint.
The company therefore has the ambition to continue to grow in the oil and gas market in the North Sea.
‘Higher security of supply’
‘Gas from our own country ensures a higher security of supply and provides economic benefits in the form of employment,’ explains Toussaint. According to the gas company, it also means that there is less CO2 emissions, because the gas does not have to be transported via other countries. ‘It can be compared to a package from abroad. There you have to deal with the pollution of transport.’
The company says it wants to work in a sustainable way. For example, the drilling rig is supplied with energy via windmills from the nearby German wind farm Riffgat. ‘This will make it the first offshore gas treatment platform in the North Sea that runs entirely on wind energy from a nearby wind farm.’
Resistance
That all sounds nice and nice, but the activities of ONE-Dyas have an impact on the environment, objectors argue. What the company does is therefore not without protests. Greenpeace, for example, took action in 2018 by occupying an oil rig used for test drilling in the North Sea.
Residents of Schiermonnikoog already regularly fed action and the municipality also believes that drilling is not allowed above the island.
Large amounts of gas found
Despite the protests, exploratory drilling continued and a large amount of gas was found. The field was given the name Ruby, or ruby. The find exceeded expectations and, according to ONE-Dyas, is one reason that being active in the North Sea still pays off.
Objections to gas extraction
Nature organizations such as the Waddenvereniging and the World Wildlife Fund, the provinces of Fryslân and Groningen, the municipality Schiermonnikoog and islanders have objected to the planned gas drilling.
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According to the objectors, putting this new gas field into operation does not fit in with the idea of energy transition and compliance with the climate agreements made. According to them, gas extraction from this gas field has a major impact on the environment and the Wadden area.
Proactive in conversation
‘Since 2018, ONE-Dyas has been proactively in discussion with a large number of stakeholders, including the nearby municipalities of Schiermonnikoog, Het Hogeland and Borkum, to inform them about the project in a timely and transparent manner,’ says Toussaint. According to her, the questions, concerns and suggestions have been included in the environmental impact statement as much as possible. It examines the effects of the drilling on nature.
We take measures to keep the impact of the activities as low as possible
Major concerns about waste water discharge
The company says it is working according to the rules. But there are major concerns about wastewater discharges needed for the drilling. If gas is extracted at Schiermonnikoog in the future, thousands of liters of waste water containing harmful substances will be discharged into the sea every day. According to the law this is allowed, but opponents think it is not possible.
‘ONE-Dyas takes measures to keep the impact of the activities as low as possible and continues to look at optimizing them. We are already taking a big step by using wind energy’, says Toussaint.
‘There are currently two options for emissions to water: discharge to land or discharge at sea. The environmental impact report shows that disposing to land is more harmful to the environment. That is why it has been decided to discharge at sea. This has no significant effects on nature in any phase of the project.’
Tension field
During the North Sea Congress in early April, where scientists, nature organisations, policymakers and the business community met, it became clear again how difficult it is to find the right balance between the need for raw materials from nature and leaving nature alone.
The North Sea Foundation also acknowledged during a round table discussion that gas from the North Sea is ‘cleaner’ than imported gas. According to them, this extraction must be done in a responsible manner.
‘ONE-Dyas is aware of the effects the project can have on the environment and wants to be a reliable partner and good neighbour’, says Toussaint. ‘Gas extraction and nature development do not have to be mutually exclusive.’
In some cases, the presence of a platform can contribute to further development of, for example, underwater life, according to ONE-Dyas. ‘No other activity is allowed to take place five hundred meters around a drilling platform. This allows marine life to develop undisturbed’, Toussaint explains.
It remains to be seen whether ONE-Dyas can actually extract gas from the North Sea. The permit application is still pending until Thursday, opinions can be submitted. One thing is clear: the last word has not yet been spoken about the company with a clear profit motive that, in its own words, considers sustainability to be of paramount importance.
Also read:
– Opposition of the House of Representatives: ‘Test drilling at Schiermonnikoog are scandalous’
– Minister Kamp: ‘Temporary test drilling allowed at Schiermonnikoog’
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