Reuters: Gas Output from Dutch Groningen Field Unlikely to Rise-Politician

Output from the Netherlands' giant Groningen gas field is "very unlikely" to rise in the second half of the year, the parliamentary leader of the ruling Liberal Party said on Sunday.

The government, which faces elections in March, has come under pressure to reduce output at the field because the extraction is causing earthquakes that have led to billions of euros in damages. The country is the EU's largest gas exporter.

Economy Minister Henk Kamp said last week that production would be capped at 16.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the first half of 2015, but could be increased in the second half of the year.

But Halbe Zijlstra, who is in the same party as Prime Minister Mark Rutte, told the weekly current affairs programme Buitenhof that production at the field, the largest in Europe, is "unlikely to rise" above a current level.

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