Flying Focus
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NOS News•today, 18:13
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Rob Coster
economics reporter
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Rob Coster
economics reporter
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More gas can be extracted from the North Sea than previously assumed. This is apparent from research by TNO commissioned by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate. The institute points out that, due to the high gas price, it is also becoming more attractive to keep gas fields open longer.
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Because the market assumes a longer period of high gas prices, TNO also thinks that it will become lucrative again to drill for new gas fields. The government has already promised to speed up the permit procedure for drilling for gas fields at sea. The reason is the impending gas shortage in Europe.
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78.2 billion cubic meters
The research shows that the total recoverable stock has been adjusted upwards by 16.8 billion cubic meters. According to the ministry, a total of 78.2 billion cubic meters of gas can still be extracted in the Dutch part of the North Sea.
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Ministry of Economic Affairs
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In the past year, the Netherlands produced 8.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas at sea. In total, Dutch gas consumption by households and companies was 40 billion cubic meters for years, although this has now fallen to around 30 billion due to the high gas price. A significant part of the gas used in the Netherlands has been imported since the cabinet decided in 2018 to turn off the gas tap in Groningen.
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Lucrative investment
Gas extraction in the North Sea has been declining in recent years. Many fields were for sale and the discussion was mainly about cleaning up redundant platforms. With gas prices around 20 euro cents per cubic meter, the exploitation of gas at sea was hardly profitable anymore. In addition, many companies that were still interested in gas extraction at sea preferred fields in the territorial waters of Norway and the United Kingdom. Those countries have shorter licensing procedures.
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Now that gas prices are around 2 euros per cubic meter, it is becoming more interesting for companies again. The number of drilling for oil and gas in the Dutch part of the North Sea has already increased to six this year, compared to two last year. Gas was actually found in two cases this year. “The investments in new fields can lead to a stabilization of the yields from the North Sea, but not replace the 6 billion cubic meters from Russia,” says René Peters, gas expert at TNO.
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Especially in the northwestern part of the North Sea above the Wadden Islands, there are still new fields with potential that could reduce the dependence on Russian gas in the Netherlands and Europe. The extraction of that gas is not undisputed. For example, the Dutch and German Wadden Islands are opposing the exploitation of the field that the oil and gas company ONE-Dyas is putting into production above Schiermonnikoog and Borkum.
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NOS
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Location of the gas field at Schiermonnikoog and Borkum –
Environmental organizations also find gas drilling obsolete and argue for accelerated energy conservation and the development of sustainable alternatives. At best, it takes several years to exploit newly discovered gas fields. According to Greenpeace, new gas fields in the North Sea are therefore not a solution in the short term for the current gas shortage, which is caused by the reduced supply of Russian gas.
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In Germany as well as in the Netherlands, the opposition to new gas drilling in the North Sea seems in vain. Extracting gas in its own part of the North Sea is more environmentally friendly than production in Russia and does not cause earthquakes as in Groningen. The gas from the North Sea is also less harmful to the environment than liquefied gas (LNG), which is imported from the United States, among others. Lng was originally mainly shale gas that is extracted by cracking the bottom and causes much more methane emissions than gas from the bottom of the North Sea.
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René Peters of TNO assumes that companies will drill more again in the coming years, but it will take some time for households and companies to benefit from this: “Fields that have already been discovered can be brought into production within two to three years. exploratory drilling still have to start, it could easily take four or five years, so it’s not a solution for this year, but it can make us less dependent on imports in the next ten years.”
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