The date has finally been set for Europe’s biggest gas field to cease production, with the Dutch government deciding on Friday to close the Groningen field on 1 October this year.
Discovered in 1959, Gronginen began supplying customers in northwest Europe in 1963 and, while it remains technically Europe’s biggest gas field, production has declined to a tiny fraction of its heyday.
Once the largest supplier of European Union gas, with peak annual output of almost 50 billion cubic metres, Groningen’s production was curtailed after earthquakes were officially linked to gas extraction from the field run by Shell and ExxonMobil joint venture NAM.
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