His ministry currently has five applications to open so-called offshore fields, according to Vijlbrief. He urgently meets with his officials and the sector to see where gas production can be accelerated.
Earlier, director Arendo Schreurs of Nogepa, the industry association of producers, said that the Dutch gas fields could yield another 6 billion cubic meters of gas in the shorter term. This production is in addition to the 12 billion cubic meters of gas that is currently extracted per year from what are called the ‘small fields’. In subsequent years, new projects could provide about 80 billion cubic meters of extra gas, Schreurs said. According to State Secretary Vijlbrief, he sees more opportunities for gas extraction ‘offshore’ and not under land. After all, there is much more controversy about that, according to the D66 minister.
In the near future, the State Secretary will also be looking for extra gas to fill the second largest gas storage facility in the Netherlands. It concerns gas storage Bergermeer (in North Holland). That filling must be in order to provide our country with sufficient gas next winter. However, the Russian Gazprom is involved in managing this storage facility and is allowed to exploit about 40 percent of the storage each year. Last year, Gazprom chose not to fill the storage room to the maximum. “The reason for this can be guessed at,” says Vijlbrief. However, he cannot rule out the possibility that Russian gas will be imported this year to get the filling levels in order. A decision on this will be made later.