News and information on Royal Dutch Shell Plc
NL TIMES
Shell: Gas field in Groningen must be completely closed this year, in light of earthquakes
SUNDAY, 26 MARCH 2023
The gas field in Groningen must be completely closed this year, said the CEO of Shell Netherlands, Marjan van Loon. Currently, the gas field is still supplying minimal amounts of gas to keep the wells usable, but she doesn’t think that’s necessary. “It can and must be done, so the field has to be closed,” Van Loon said on the TV program WNL Op Zondag.
DutchNews.nl
Damning report slams state, oil companies for Groningen gas failures
Gas extraction has become an ‘unprecedented system failure’ and both the public and private sector have failed in their duties, Van der Lee said.
Ministers were not properly informed and that meant that MPs could not fulfill their role as guardians of the public interest. The damage, both material and mental, suffered by locals was consistently underestimated and the maximalisation of profit was the guiding force.
“Gas extraction in Groningen was so successful and lucrative for the Dutch government, Shell and Exxon Mobil that they hardly took any notion of the long-term risks and the ever-clearer signs of the detrimental effects for the people in Groningen…” REUTERS
Dutch gov’t, Shell and Exxon ignored Groningen risks for years, inquiry finds
“These are hard and painful conclusions,” Rutte told a news conference. “They make clear there is a lot to do to help the region and to hopefully restore trust.”
The government will take time provide a full response to the report, he said without indicating how long that would take.
A statement from NAM director Johan Atema said: “It is clear that we need to have a better eye for the society in which we work. It is up to us to show that we as a company have learned from this.”
OILPRICE.COM
Netherlands To Shut Down Europe’s Largest Gas Field
The Dutch government plans to close the Groningen gas field this year despite Europe’s precarious supply position. Groningen is the largest gas field in Europe.
The field is dangerous, a government official from the Hague told the Financial Times, and the government has no plans to boost production from it.
“We won’t open up more because of the safety issues,” Hans Vijbrief told the FT. “It is politically totally unviable. But apart from that, I’m not going to do it because it means that you increase the chances of earthquakes, which I don’t want to be responsible for.”
thenationalnews.com
Shell boss reveals regrets and pride as he steps down after decade
Ben van Beurden’s regrets were linked to financial issues in the Arctic and safety at a Dutch oilfield
Shell’s chief executive Ben van Beurden has said he regretted not acting earlier on two problems linked to the environment, as he prepares to step down after nearly a decade in charge.
Mr van Beurden said he should have acted in 2015 on data coming out of the Groningen gasfield in the Netherlands.
Another departing Shell leader seeking redemption?
THE GRONINGEN SCANDAL
BvB now admits that Shell should have pulled out of the controversial earthquake-blighted Groningen project operated by NAM – a Shell-Exxon joint venture company.
According to Reuters: “A damning report in 2015 from the independent Dutch Safety Board had accused the government and the field’s operators of ignoring the threat of earthquakes linked to the field for years.”
As regular visitors to this website know, we have been drawing attention to the Groningen scandal for many years. Thousands of properties have been damaged. As a consequence, Dutch prosecutors are pursuing litigation against NAM. Tens of thousands of Groningen residents are eligible for compensation for earthquake damage.
Dutch prosecutors to pursue pollution case against Shell-Exxon gas venture
A spokesperson for NAM said the company would respond later on Wednesday.
Reuters reported last month that Shell And ExxonMobil have put their 50-50 venture up for sale, with expected proceeds of over $1 billion.
NAM started producing natural gas in 1963 following the discovery of the giant Groningen field, which was a major source of gas for the Netherlands and Europe for decades.
But extraction has been almost completely wound down in the past 10 years as tremors blamed on drilling damaged buildings and prompted protests by residents and campaigners.
REUTERS
Shell should have quit Groningen gas project in Netherlands earlier -CEO
“We had to continually ask what makes sense,” as production was dialled back to levels at which NAM made little to no profit, Van Beurden told lawmakers.
“What made sense for Shell was to quit. In any other country we would have stopped this operation. But in the Netherlands that was impossible because the Netherlands was dependent on Groningen gas.”
A damning report in 2015 from the independent Dutch Safety Board had accused the government and the field’s operators of ignoring the threat of earthquakes linked to the field for years. As vast amounts of gas were removed from under the province since 1963, the ground sank and settled above empty pockets, triggering quakes.
Reuters
Shell, Exxon launch joint sale of UK, Dutch North Sea assets -sources
In July, Shell and Exxon launched the sale of the 50-50 NAM joint venture in the Netherlands, operator of the Groningen gas field and one of Europe’s largest and oldest natural gas production companies.
The two companies have also separately put up for sale their stakes in their British southern North Sea gas hub, which include the Clipper Leman Alpha hubs as well as the Bacton terminal in eastern England, the sources said.
Dutch limit Groningen gas production despite energy crisis
AMSTERDAM -Gas production at the Groningen field in the Netherlands will be lowered to the minimal amount needed to keep wells operational in the coming year, as extraction is expected to end by 2024 at the latest, the Dutch government said on Monday.
The Groningen field, operated by a joint venture of Shell and Exxon Mobil, still holds massive reserves of natural gas.
The energy crisis in Europe and the buried treasure of the Netherlands of 1000 billion
Despite skyrocketing energy prices and a shortage of natural gas supplies in the European Union, the Dutch government has taken the decision to go ahead with shutting down the natural gas wells in the Groningen region. The field is one of the largest in the world, with a value of up to 1,000 billion euros. But for now, it is a treasure that will remain untapped for the foreseeable future.
DutchNews.nl
Regulator receives 136 damage claims after two earthquakes strike Groningen
SEPT 26, 2022
More than 100 claims for structural damage have been filed since two earthquakes, the largest measuring 2.7 on the Richter scale, hit Groningen province on Saturday.
The larger of the two quakes struck the village of Uithuizermeerden, on the north coast, at around midday, followed by a smaller one measured at 1.7 in Uithuizen.
The Institute for Mining Damage in Groningen (IMG) said it had received 136 reports of damage over the weekend, including three saying there was an acute risk to safety. Inspections at two of the three sites established that there was no immediate danger, while a third is ongoing.
NL TIMES
Tens of thousands to get compensation for Groningen earthquakes
Tens of thousands of Groningen residents are still eligible for compensation for earthquake damage. This is reported by the Groningen Institute for Mining Damage (IMG), which will offer a one-time fixed payment of 5,000 euros as compensation to people who, in the past, received little or no restitution. In total, the institute estimates that it will cost an additional 100 million euros more than the hundreds of millions already spent on compensation for physical damage.
OILPRICE.COM
Exxon And Shell Look To Sell $1.5 Billion Natural Gas Venture
Shell and Exxon’s decision to sell one of the oldest gas-producing ventures would be part of both companies’ plans to divest aging assets they no longer consider core to their respective operations, Reuters notes.
According to Reuters’ sources, NAM’s assets up for sale – including three gas processing plants, pipeline networks, and offshore gas fields – could be valued at between $1 billion and $1.5 billion.
The two international majors expect that the current dire need for gas supply in Europe and the high natural gas prices could make those assets attractive to prospective buyers, the sources told Reuters.
DutchNews.nl
Groningen gas: former mining director says gas firms taken more seriously than supervisor
Sept 1, 2022
The economic affairs minister took gas companies more seriously than government safety supervisors, according to evidence at the six-week enquiry into what has gone wrong in Groningen.
This week the enquiry restarted into how decades of gas extraction caused ever more earthquakes and damage for local people, and why compensation schemes have failed so badly. It will run until October 14.
The Guardian
Fears of new quakes in Dutch gas field as energy crisis bites
The province of Groningen is home to a vast gas field and the subject of a parliamentary inquiry into the links between gas extraction and the hundreds of earthquakes and tremors that have traumatised residents.
Groningen’s inhabitants have been affected by the giant gas field for the last few decades. About 80% of houses in villages such as Overschild are being demolished and rebuilt because of earthquake damage. More than 150,000 Groningen residents have suffered earthquake damage to their properties in the last decade, and 10,000 now face stress-related health problems.
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