Expensive price tag for gas storage Norg | Financial

Many experts had urged our country to maintain such a strategic gas reserve, following the high gas prices and the empty gas storage facilities last winter.

The price tag is the outcome of an arbitration case between the two parties, State Secretary Vijlbrief (Mining) reports to the House of Representatives.

The arbitration case came after agreements between the two parties to fill the gas storage at Norg with foreign gas that has been diluted with nitrogen. It then resembles Groningen gas. In this way, the gas tap in Groningen can be closed earlier. The NAM incurs extra costs to fill the storage with foreign gas, so the cabinet now has to make the cut.

Most of the cost is in the purchase of gas, so will go to sellers, such as possibly Russia’s Gazprom, and American LNG exporters.

Groningen field

By filling the storage with other gas, 11.9 billion cubic meters less can be extracted from Groningen. But that includes an account. “For all years together, that is expected to be about 7.5 billion euros,” reports Vijlbrief. “The compensation is determined at the end of the relevant gas year on the basis of the actual market prices.”

Filling Norg with pseudo-Groningen gas is necessary to reduce gas extraction in Groningen as quickly as possible, says the D66 minister. “The safety of the residents of Groningen is paramount. Rapid closure of the Groningen field continues to be a top priority for the cabinet.”

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