Dutch Gas Storage Project Hits Roadblock

Plans to turn the Netherlands into a European gas hub have hit a roadblock with the Dutch supreme court ordering a temporary halt to the development of the Bergermeer Gas Storage project.

A consortium led by Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA), plans to pump gas into a depleted gas reservoir over two kilometres deep under the Bergermeer polder north of Amsterdam, creating the biggest natural gas storage facility in mainland Europe.

The court said it was putting a temporary stop to developments which would otherwise be irreversible, pending further research into the legal complexities of the case.

There is wide opposition to the project from the natural heritage group Natuurmonument, Bergen local council and from local residents.

In May, TAQA announced that it had received the statutory approvals and permits to construct and operate from the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture & Innovation, Minister of Infrastructure & Environment and other authorities.

Gas storage operations at Bergermeer were planned to start in 2013 with full commercial operations in 2014. The facility will provide the Northwest European gas market with 46 TWh (4.1 billion cubic metres) of seasonal storage, thereby almost doubling the Netherlands’ total storage capacity.

The Bergermeer project consortium, consists of Energie Beheer Nederland (EBN), Dyas B.V., Petro-Canada and TAQA Energy B.V.