The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) has offered to transfer two gas storage facilities to the Dutch government, reports Bloomberg news agency based on insiders.
The joint company of oil and gas groups Shell and ExxonMobil is said to have made that proposal in negotiations about compensation for the earthquake damage caused by gas extraction in Groningen.
The NAM would like to transfer the underground gas storage facilities in Norg and Grijpskerk. Together they have a storage capacity of 8.4 billion cubic meters of gas, which is slightly more than a quarter of the total amount of gas consumed in the Netherlands last year. The storages serve as a buffer in case industry or households need more gas in the short term.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy declined to comment on questions about the news. These are ongoing negotiations and statements about this could have an effect on those talks, a spokesperson said. ExxonMobil and Shell declined to comment for the same reason. NAM was not immediately available for comment.
There is still much disagreement between the cabinet and the energy companies about compensation for earthquake damage, State Secretary Hans Vijlbrief (Mining) recently announced. The NAM started an arbitration process against the Dutch government last year, because the government allegedly failed to comply with previous agreements on the settlement of claims and a new agreement was required.