The consumption of natural gas in the Netherlands has barely decreased in recent years, despite efforts to build more natural gas-free homes. In order to meet domestic demand, the Netherlands has imported more gas than exported for the first time in decades over the past two years, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on Tuesday.
In 2014, the government began gradually phasing out gas extraction, partly because of the increasing public dissatisfaction with earthquakes in Groningen. The year before – with a relatively cold winter – gas consumption was 44.2 billion cubic meters. That had dropped to 42.5 billion cubic meters in 2019.
The share of natural gas in the domestic energy supply remained unchanged at 44 percent during this period. Electricity producers have started to generate more electricity from natural gas since 2015, because it became cheaper compared to electricity from coal-fired power stations.
Extraction is now approximately 60 percent of the 2013 level and will be further reduced in the coming years. For the Treasury, this meant that natural gas revenues decreased from 15.4 billion euros in 2013 to 1.1 billion euros in 2019.
Current gas extraction still provides approximately three quarters of domestic consumption. More gas was imported than exported for the first time in 2018 and the difference increased last year.
Most gas comes to the Netherlands via pipelines. The supply of liquid gas (lng) by ship is still relatively small, but it is on the rise. The volume of liquefied natural gas is about six hundred times smaller than that of the original gas, making it easier to transport.
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