NYTimes: A Gas Cache, Now Under Shaky Ground

Deep below the cow pastures and farming villages in this picturesque northeastern corner of the Netherlands lies an extraordinary resource: Europe’s largest source of natural gas, known as the Groningen gas field.

Since its discovery in Groningen Province in 1959, the field has powered the economy of the Netherlands and has been a reliable supply of gas for Northern Europe. Five decades and counting is a remarkable run of productivity for a field of fossil fuel.

But as it enters old age, Groningen has grown cranky. A half-century of extraction has reduced the field’s natural pressure in recent years, and seismic shifts from geological settling have set off increasingly frequent earthquakes — more than 120 last year, and at least 40 this year.
MORE