On Friday, the government of the Netherlands stated that the gas production at the Groningen field will end in 2022 despite the current gas price rally.
Next year, until October, the output at the field would be slashed by more than 50% to merely 3.9 bcm. It would be the last year of regular production.
However, to keep operational, every year the field will have roughly 1.5 bcm of gas extracted until a main gas storage site can be switched to the use of imported low-calorific gas instead of the high-calorific gas Groningen delivers.
Earlier, the Dutch government had expressed its prediction that the conversion of the storage site to be between 2025-2028 but it had also asked regulators whether this could happen quicker.
The field had hit its output peak in 1976 at 88 bcm after being discovered in 1959. Until 5 years ago, the output was still close to 30 bcm. However, in recent years, extraction has been problematic as gas production caused a series of tremors that damaged houses and buildings in the region.
The plan of closing commences even when in September, gas prices in Europe and the UK surged to record highs.
