Through and
A top official from the Ministry of Economic Affairs has actively opposed the publication of documents about gas extraction in Groningen. In this way, gas extraction company NAM and trading house Gasterra could be kept out of the wind.
This is apparent from confidential minutes of the Groningen Partnership that NRC and Daily newspaper of the North have seen. In the Groningen Partnership, oil companies Shell, ExxonMobil and joint venture NAM, together with a government representative from Economic Affairs, state-owned company EBN and semi-government company Gasterra, developed the strategy for gas extraction in Groningen.
Read alsoHow Groningen gas continued to flow under pressure from the oil companies
Of his own accord, the Director-General of Energy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs made suggestions about how the central government could frustrate a so-called Wob request for disclosure. The Wob stands for Government Information (Public Access) Act and is intended for citizens to request government information. Since the beginning of this month, the Wob has been replaced by the Woo (Open Government Act).
By withholding the relevant pieces, when gas extraction was greatly increased, the ministry managed to get its way. That is very serious in a democracy
Pieter Omtzigt Member of parliament
This took place at a closed meeting of the gas companies and the government on 13 February 2014. Top executives Joost van Roost (ExxonMobil Netherlands), Dick Benschop (Shell Netherlands), NAM director Bart van de Leemput and his vice director Barend Botter were present.
Residents’ organization
Residents’ organization Groninger Soil Movement had requested concepts from the government via the Wob for the extraction plan for 2013 of the gas extraction company Nederlandse Aardoliemaatschappij. It is clear from the meeting minutes that the Ministry of Economic Affairs does not intend to share those draft plans at all.
The Director-General for Energy of EZ says he will indicate that he “only has these concepts in his role as Government representative. [van het winningsplan]with which these documents will therefore be signaled as not present at the department”.
Less than three months later, something similar happened. Now the director of energy markets of the Ministry of Economic Affairs reports that there is a Wob request. This time with the question of how much gas volume has been ordered by Gasterra in the past. The trading company from Groningen had requested the ministry “not to disclose how much volume has been ordered in the past”.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs appears to want to accommodate Gasterra, NAM and the oil companies. The ministry does want to “make sure that this request will not be honored”, the top official reported on May 13, 2014.
Huizinge earthquake
That is spicy because a controversial amount of gas was extracted from the Groningen field in 2013: 53.87 billion cubic meters. While the supervisor, State Supervision of Mines (SodM) had advised, after the severe earthquake near Huizinge, that gas extraction be severely limited in order to reduce the risks of a major earthquake.
But exactly one year after the blow at Huizinge, a record amount of gas was extracted from the ground, partly because of “attractive commercial opportunities”, according to the minutes. How and why so much gas had to be extracted in 2013 is still a mystery to MPs and duped residents of Groningen.
Member of Parliament Pieter Omtzigt reacts with shock to the attitude of the top official. “By withholding the relevant documents in 2013, when gas production was greatly increased after the earthquake in Huizinge, the ministry managed to get its way. That is very serious in a democracy.”
According to Omtzigt, this fits in with the pattern he also saw in the childcare allowance scandal: “For years, answering parliamentary questions incorrectly and withholding Wob documents meant that the scandal remained hidden for much longer and the bad practices could continue for longer.” At the same time, the MP is “very curious whether the ministry has realized in the meantime that this course of action is absolutely unacceptable”.
NRC and Dagblad van het Noorden are jointly conducting research into gas extraction in Groningen. Tips via [email protected]