Dutch Government in Disarray Over Shale Gas

The Dutch government continued to register opposing positions within its ranks over shale gas, with the leader of the Labour party Diederik Samsom saying that unconventional exploration would not happen as long as he is part of the coalition government. 

Samson agreed to continue research activities meant to study the feasibility, the potentials and the consequences of shale gas in the country. 

Samson said that shale gas in the country is “completely unnecessary.” 

The position of Samson is clashing with previous statements by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who said that a decision will be taken after the release of the results of the ongoing research to be concluded next summer. 

The Netherlands is currently decreasing its gas production due to a mix of unplanned outages and depleting fields. On Friday, Gasterra reported an outage of a part of the Groningen field, adding that it cannot provide indications about the time period required to solve the outage.

‘The immediate physical loss resulting from this outage is according to GasTerra's estimate more than 10 million m3 per day, or the hourly equivalent value’ the company wrote on Friday.  

British company Cuadrilla Resources has three shale gas licences in the Netherlands. 

In September 2013, the Dutch Government said it would have expected the results of the study to be ready in no more than 18 months.