Large Gas Field to Close Forever, Before 2024

Despite an energy crisis, the Dutch government has decided to permanently close Europe’s largest gas field by the end of 2023, a year ahead of schedule, for the safety and health of its population.

On October 1 of this year – the government first aimed at closing it in October of 2024 – the Groningen gas field will be closed for good.

Inaugurated in 1963, the field has provoked hundreds of earthquakes since the 1980s, causing damage to buildings and houses because of extended drilling and fracturing. Once a key source of gas for a large part of Western Europe and still a backbone of Dutch public finances, the field currently contributes a small amount of Europe’s overall gas output, accounting mainly as an important possible supply buffer. Until October, a maximum of 2.8 billion m³ of gas will be extracted. The government also plans on spending $24 billion over 30 years to compensate Groningen residents. Some 127,000 homes out of the 327,000 have sustained damages. Since 2012, 3,300 buildings have been demolished after being deemed unsafe.