How 4000 people from Groningen managed to turn off the gas tap

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  Reinalda Start

  research editor

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  Helen Ekker

  Climate and Energy editor

Only the threat of criminal prosecution would force oil companies Shell and Exxon to extract less gas in Groningen after the severe 2012 earthquake. A retired criminal court advised action group Groninger Soil Movement (GBB) to use artillery heavy.

The public hearings of the Groningen parliamentary commission of inquiry for natural gas extraction have shown in recent weeks how great the impact of that council has been. The commission closed those hearings yesterday.

The GBB first filed a complaint on behalf of 4000 members in vain: the prosecutor saw no reason to prosecute NAM. The people of Groningen then asked the Arnhem court to force the prosecutor to conduct such a criminal investigation.

In April 2017, the court ruled in their favor. The prosecutor should investigate whether gas extraction company NAM, a subsidiary of Shell and Exxon with the state as a co-shareholder, has endangered Groningers. The case is still pending and cost the GBB two tons of lawyers’ fees, but the effect was maximum.

Ben van Beurden, Shell’s CEO, calls that criminal case a “tipping point”. His company was suddenly accused of endangering people’s lives by extracting gas. Its employees could be personally prosecuted for it. Shell and Exxon have informed the Ministry of Economy that they want to stop gas production in Groningen.

They wanted to continue only if the state imposed a production obligation on them, assumed responsibility and therefore also the risk of being prosecuted. All other gas fields in the world would be closed if it was found that winning is not safe, both Exxon’s Rolf de Jong and Shell’s Van Beurden said. But they also realized that it was impossible to stop because Dutch families, hospitals and much of the Dutch industry depend on Groningen gas.

It was one of the most surprising problems that emerged in the public hearings. Until then, the image was that former Minister of Economic Affairs Wiebes had decided on his own in 2018 to end gas extraction in Groningen in 2030.

This was inevitable, he said, because state mining oversight later found that gas extraction may have to shut down altogether to limit the risk of even more earthquakes. Furthermore, the reinforcement operation, the strengthening of unsafe homes, was completely out of control. Far more homes needed to be reinforced than the ministry wanted and, according to the gas company NAM, it was necessary.

Furthermore, the interrogations revealed that the cabinet was in no hurry with the oil companies’ request. They feared that Shell and Exxon would take the opportunity to change the historic profit-sharing agreements as well. The two multinationals and the state share their gas revenues, with most of the profits (90 per cent) going to the state. These are agreements made at the beginning of gas extraction in the early 1960s.

In 2012, the strongest earthquake to date was that of Huizinge, with a magnitude of 3.6. The state supervision of the mines subsequently advised to limit the gas production in Groningen as quickly as possible. But instead, a record number of 54 billion cubic meters was extracted from the soil the following year. The committee wants to know who gave the order for this.

The Groningers were furious when that figure became known in January 2014. It led to a breach of trust that hasn’t been fixed to date, former Loppersum Mayor Albert said. Rodenboog for the committee.

It was not clear from the interrogations who was responsible for the decision. For former ministers Kamp (Economic Affairs) and Dijsselbloem (Finance), this extra production was also a surprise, they told the committee.

Kamp always told the House that the extra gas was needed due to the cold winter and the disappointing production of the small fields. But he found out, after doing a reconstruction, that it wasn’t fair. He never shared that discovery with the House of Representatives.

Dijsselbloem said he hoped the committee would reveal how this could happen. A year later, he wanted production to be increased even more than the Ministry of Economy had foreseen. The extra benefits this would have produced were useful at the time due to the cuts.

The public hearings have now ended. 69 people were interviewed in seven weeks. The committee will present its conclusions in the spring of 2023.