Personnel of gas trader GasTerra felt pressured from above to sell a lot of Groningen gas in 2013. That was the year after the worst earthquake hit Groningen to date and after the advice of the State Supervision of Mines (SodM) to reduce consumption quickly. going to win, for the sake of the safety of Groningers.
The employees of GasTerra, who also live in the province, found the extra extraction difficult to reconcile with the concern about earthquakes. They also feared that the large amount of gas that had to be sold would disrupt the gas market and lower the gas price. This is apparent from conversations with those involved and can be heard in the third episode of the NOS/NPO Radio1 podcast Groningen gas, gained or lost?
Past appointments
There was a lot of criticism from Groningen about this extra winning. The then minister Kamp stated that the oil companies (Shell and Exxon) were within their rights to gain so much, because of agreements from the past. It was agreed in 2005 that Shell and Exxon Mobil would be allowed to extract 425 billion cubic meters of natural gas for 10 years, so an average of 42.5 billion cubic meters per year.
But after the urgent advice from regulator SodM to reduce, the average was not used. GasTerra was given permission to sell 49 billion cubic meters and eventually sold another 5 billion cubic meters.
Kamp also told the House of Representatives that the Groningen gas was needed because it had been a severe winter and because production from the smaller gas fields was disappointing. Moreover, GasTerra would have adhered properly to the agreed business plan.
That later turned out to be something else. For example, according to a report by TNO Bouw en Ondergrond, the production from the small fields was ‘in accordance with the forecast’. And the winter was not so extremely cold that such a high production was necessary. Kamp also said that SSM’s advice came too late because GasTerra’s business plan had already been established by then. Confidential minutes of the Groningen Partnership, which recently came into the hands of the NOS, show that those involved had known this advice much earlier.
Surprise with staff
Geert Greving has worked for GasTerra for many years. He was, among other things, head of public affairs and is the only one who wants to talk about it openly with the makers of the podcast. According to Greving, people on the floor were amazed in 2013 that they were ordered to put more than 50 billion cubic meters of gas on the market, when the official schedule was 42.5 billion. “People said: what should I do with this? I haven’t seen a written decision, but we’re going up, and that’s not right,” he says now almost 10 years later.
The employees and the works council asked the management for clarification, says Greving. They were told it was agreed with the shareholders (Shell, Exxon and the State) he recalls. The staff was told that the agreements had been made verbally. There was nothing left on paper. Greving hopes that the public hearings of the parliamentary inquiry at the end of this month will make it clear who was in charge at the time.
The then directors of GasTerra declined to comment in the run-up to the parliamentary inquiry.
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