April 21 (LNGJ) - The Dutch Government has decided against increasing output from the Groningen natural gas field, once one of the largest in Europe. The plans remain gradually taking the field off stream because of complaints about earth tremors. “The Netherlands only extracts gas if it can be done safely and responsibly. And extracting more gas from the fields in the province of Groningen is not safe,” said the Dutch government on efforts to replace Russian gas volumes.
“This should be considered only as a last resort, if, for example, gas deliveries to an entire region (including households and hospitals) are at risk. The government would only consider extracting more gas in Groningen if that would help prevent such a situation,” it added. The Dutch will try and boost LNG imports while keeping a minimal flow at Groningen from October 2022 of 1.5 billion cubic metres per annum, the equivalent of 16 LNG cargoes.
