- Number of gas-related earthquakes dropped to 58 in 2022: KNMI
- Dutch government is moving to curb output from Groningen field
According to Bloomberg article published on January 4, 2023, the number of earthquakes in the Netherlands linked to natural gas extraction fell by almost a quarter last year, as it moves to curb production from Europe’s largest reserve.
The country recorded 58 gas-related earthquakes, down from 75 in 2021, according to data published by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, or KNMI. The drop comes as the government cut output from its key Groningen gas field by more than 40% last year as a series of earthquakes damaged thousands of houses in northeastern Netherlands.
Groningen has been a mainstay of Europe’s gas supplies since 1963, and there’s still about 450 billion cubic meters of extractable gas in reserve.
But its production has led to hundreds of earthquakes since the 1980s, and the Dutch government has enacted ever-stricter limits on the field over the past decade. It aims to shut Groningen by next year.
KNMI said that the number of quakes with a magnitude of 1.5 and above in Groningen was unchanged at 12 last year. The seismic moment, or total amount of energy released, also held about steady.
