The Dutch government is set to present plans for drastically lower gas production at the vast Groningen field on March 29, a move to limit seismic risks in the region.
The government last month said it would cut production nearly in half, to 12 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, as quickly as possible, after the northern region was hit by the strongest earthquake in years in January.
Economy Minister Eric Wiebes promised to present an overview of possible measures to reach that goal before the end of March.
Output from Groningen has been reduced several times in recent years as decades of extraction have led to dozens of earthquakes each year, damaging thousands of homes and buildings.
That process was accelerated after a 3.4 magnitude quake in January, with Wiebes committing to the steep cut and saying a total shutdown was possible if necessary.
But reaching the desired level of 12 bcm will probably take years, as roughly 7 million households in the Netherlands and many large factories still depend on the low-calorific gas produced in Groningen. About 40% of the Netherlands’ energy needs still comes from gas.
To meet its target, the government has urged large industrial users and energy companies to stop using Groningen gas by 2022, while talks were opened with foreign buyers to see if they could reduce their dependence on the gas.
Last month German energy company EWE said it expected to cut its demand for Groningen gas by 75 percent (1.7 bcm) annually by the end of next year.
Gas production company NAM said earlier it expected measures taken since January to reduce production by 0.5 to 2 bcm in the year ending October 2018, compared with the original target for the year of 21.6 bcm.
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