The Netherlands stopped getting gas from Europe’s largest gas field on Sunday. This field has been causing earthquakes for a long time, worrying the people living nearby. This decision aims to prevent more quakes from happening in the future.
The Netherlands will keep 11 gas extraction wells at the Groningen field open for one more year, just in case there’s a very cold winter. After that, they’ll permanently close the field. This decision comes at a time when there are tense situations between different countries.
People who live near the field have been upset for over 20 years because the drilling caused earthquakes. This field started operating in the early 1960s.
The earthquakes were not very strong, but they happened close to the surface and damaged many homes and buildings.
In 2018, residents were happy to hear that the field would be shut down. However, experts have warned that the earthquakes might keep happening for several more years.
In recent years, they’ve almost stopped taking out gas from the field. But because of uncertainty in the world about energy, especially after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the government decided to keep the site running.
Many people in the area are having a tough time because of the gas extraction. Jan Wigboldus, who represents local people, said that a lot of them are facing mental health issues because of it.
Some folks are also stuck in a lot of paperwork and are only getting a small amount of money for the problems they’ve had.
A report from a group in the government said that the Dutch authorities didn’t pay enough attention to the long-term risks when they were getting gas out successfully. They also said that the government should do what’s right to fix the situation.
According to Shell, a really big amount of gas has been taken out of the field over the years. It’s about 2,300 billion cubic meters, or 81,223 billion cubic feet.
From 1963 to 2020, the gas from Groningen made around 429 billion euros (or $450 billion) when we consider the changes in money value over time. About 85 percent of that money went to the government.
They’ve been cleaning up the area, and there are piles of old pipes left from parts of the field they’ve taken apart.
A lot of homes in Groningen have been fixed up or built again to be strong against earthquakes.
The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, visited the place and mentioned that there are tens of thousands of children in the area who are going through a really tough time. He said this, according to a Dutch news agency.
SOURCE:FRANCE24