Representing the interests of the State in gas extraction was always a top priority for him. But safety in Groningen was not his responsibility. That public task was assigned to the State Supervision of Mines. That said Stan Dessens, for many years an important player in the so-called ‘gas building’ in which the oil companies and the State work together on gas extraction in Groningen.
Dessens was summoned in The Hague on Wednesday for a four-hour interrogation by the parliamentary committee of inquiry investigating gas extraction. In two periods he joined the so-called Maatschap Groningen, the forum of the ‘oils’ and the State in which the most important decisions about gas extraction were taken.
In the period between 1988 and 1999 he was a senior official of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and between 2006 and 2017 as a representative of state-owned company EBN. Then he presided over the meetings of the Partnership. At the same time, he was also a supervisory director at GasTerra, the company that had to sell Groningen gas.
‘marriage of convenience’
The Partnership was not a “clumsy club” whose members were “guessing” about gas extraction, Dessens said. “On the contrary, it was sometimes tough.” Because it was a “marriage of convenience” between the oil companies and the State, but they knew they always had to work it out together.
Supervisor State Supervision of Mines (SodM) argued in November 2012 for a substantial limitation of gas production, but both the Dutch Petroleum Company (NAM), which produced the gas, and the state-owned company EBN opposed this. “I thought it all went very quickly,” said Dessens. He called for an “extremely careful process” because “very large interests were involved.” These were both international interests – GasTerra was a ‘crucial player in the European gas market’ and had concluded export contracts worth many billions – and domestic interests: the gas was also necessary for the ‘security of supply’ of the Netherlands.
‘Subjective sense of security’ of the Groningers
After the SodM report finally came out, Kamp announced a large-scale research program into the dangers of gas extraction, but he did not limit production. Dessen agreed. Like NAM and the oil companies, he assumed that although there would be more earthquakes in the coming years, the damage would be limited.
He especially regrets that he has ‘not given sufficient account’ of the ‘subjective sense of security’ of the people of Groningen. “A feeling of insecurity has arisen in Groningen, a feeling of concern about home and hearth, and I now say: that did not concern me enough at the time.”
This article is also part of our live blog: Former NAM director: ‘Maintaining support for gas extraction was paramount after the Huizinge earthquake’