Dutch 'Distress' Verdict Due 2017
A court in the Dutch city of Assen is expected to give its verdict on March 1 2017 on a case in which compensation is being sought from both Shell/Exxon joint venture NAM, as operator of the Groningen field, and the Dutch state for alleged psychological distress caused by earth tremors.
The lawsuit was filed by 127 individual residents of the earthquake area, whose lawyer Pieter Huitema of law firm De Haan told NGW on November 23: “NAM or the Dutch Government will have to pay for the psychological harm of the 127 residents.”
Although NAM has contested the claims, the Dutch government has long accepted that earthquakes in the northern Netherlands, peaking with one of 3.6 magnitude on August 16 2012, were caused by increased gas production at the giant Groningen field in 2012-13 there. The field's production has been scaled back to less than half the field’s 2013 annual 54bn m3 output, and the frequency and magnitude of the quakes have also diminished.
NAM said that Thijs Jurgens, its general manager Groningen earthquakes, responded to questions from national and local reporters who attended the November 22 hearing also in Assen. Regional broadcaster RTV Noord also streamed the complete hearing live online.
Economy minister Henk Kamp (Photo source: Netherlands government)
NAM says that 30% of its Dutch gas production now comes from small fields spread across the country, including offshore, some of which are hundreds or thousands of times smaller than its Groningen field. Economy minister Henk Kamp on November 22 cleared NAM to begin production from one such field, Vries Zuid, using a new well (Vries-10) drilled late 2015, following advice from the state’s mining regulator SoDM. Vries-10 replaces an earlier well shut due to water incursion but is a sensitive issue as the small field is north of Assen, and therefore not far from the politically charged Groningen field.
Mark Smedley