Huizinge quake was ‘game changer’, high gas production ‘unfortunate’ the following year | NOW

Why did gas production soar in 2013 despite a regulator’s recommendation to cut production due to earthquake risks? That is a question that many people in Groningen still have to deal with. Thursday’s public interrogation with a former Shell CEO shows that, despite consultations with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ), no action was taken.

“It was unfortunate that the win for 2013 was very high, I am well aware of that,” said former Shell CEO Pieter Dekker on Thursday.

A year earlier, in August 2012, a severe earthquake occurred near Huizinge. That quake was a wake-up call and the State Supervision of Mines (SodM) decided to make its own analysis.

The regulator concluded that a maximum magnitude of future earthquakes could not be set (until then an upper limit of 3.9 was assumed). The SodM also established a relationship between the production speed and the number of earthquakes.

In the advice to the Minister of Economic Affairs, Henk Kamp, the regulator urged to reduce gas extraction “as quickly and as much as possible and realistic”.

During Thursday’s interrogations, it became clear that NAM, which is owned by Shell and ExxonMobil, did not share all of these conclusions. The Dutch Safety Board (OVV) had already reported this in 2015.

“If you play a movie slower, the content doesn’t change”

“The quake was a game changer as far as we are concerned,” said Dekker. But the NAM did not consider it necessary to reduce production. According to the CEO, NAM was convinced that lowering production would not lead to less severe earthquakes.

It could, however, influence the frequency of the number of quakes. Dekker used the metaphor of a film. Its content does not change if you play it slower or faster. “Quakes will come anyway. What comes will come eventually.” According to Dekker, NAM was not alone in this, the KNMI also thought so.

The minister decided to put the advice of the SodM aside and first do more research. There was therefore no obligation to reduce production.

Internally, Dekker received an email from a Shell advisor. He stated that production could be reduced by 10 to 15 billion cubic meters because of the earthquakes. According to the adviser, they did not have to wait for the minister’s decision for this. Dekker did not take any further action with that message: “We did not see how this could contribute to solving problems. So there was no point in taking that step.”

The extraction plan for 2013 submitted by GasTerra amounted to 48.9 billion cubic meters. At the end of December 2012, Dekker signed it as a member of the Supervisory Board.

Despite signals, no action was taken

In the course of 2013, production increased even further. Ultimately, this amounted to 53.9 billion cubic meters, much more than in previous years.

According to Dekker, this was noted within GasTerra that year. “That has been discussed. Consultations have been held with the ministry, whether all parties still agreed with it,” said the former CEO of Shell. It was then decided to continue this and to await the investigations.

“So as long as the minister does not intervene, can we continue?” asked the committee of inquiry. “Yes, then we will implement policy as we have agreed upon, and that is to maximize the value of Groningen gas”, Dekker replied.

He admitted at the end of the interrogation that it might have been good if they had slowed down “the movie”. That way there would have been more time for reinforcements, claims handling and necessary investigations.