Germany and the Netherlands are exploring a new natural gas field in the North Sea. A stone’s throw from the old field causes dozens of earthquakes every year.
GRONINGEN The doors and windows vibrate again. The rails tore into the walls and a chunk fell from the ceiling to the floor.
Ger Warinkin the measure was full.
– A rubble dropped from the ceiling in the middle of the floor. I told my wife that was enough now.
Warink, 59, who runs a music store in the village of Loppersum, and his wife decided to leave their shops and homes.
– The house is no longer safe. I noticed the first damage in 2012, but now there are so many that the whole house needs to be demolished, Warink says.
Warink looks like an empty home and business space. The floor has sunk in the middle. Fractures are visible in the walls and doorways. Warink has installed a frame made of thick steel beams on the inner walls of the yard to keep it under piles.
Europe is less often associated with earthquakes, but here in the Groningen area they are commonplace.
This is due to the largest known natural gas field in Europe below ground. Gas has been raised so much since the 1960s that the earth has turned into a loose, surging pancake.
– I was hospitalized in January because of heart problems. I was so frustrated. This is what this situation does, causing divorce and neighborly disputes, Warink says.
Still a new field to seek help with gas shortages
The earthquakes in Groningen are a national tragedy.
Last year, the Netherlands decided that the gas field was to be closed. Production has been reduced and should stop completely next year.
But now a new gas field is being opened on the coast of Groningen in the North Sea.
The field is located near the island of Borkum, right on the German-Dutch border.
We stand on the windy shores of the North Sea Chris de Ruyter van Steveninckin with. He is the CEO of One-Dyas, a gas company that runs the Borkum field.
There is nothing in the landscape yet to tell of a gas field – instead, wind farms are running everywhere.
– I’m sure the permit will be arranged and we can start construction work. The field can be put into operation in the winter of 2024-2025, van Steveninck says.
This would bring comfort in the midst of an energy crisis. Russian natural gas played a big role here, but the war changed everything.
There are an estimated 60 billion cubic meters of gas in front of Borkum. That’s little compared to the giant Groningenveld, where more than 2,000 billion cubic meters have been raised in more than 50 years.
– The field would reduce dependence on other countries. Producing gas nearby is reliable, leaving more money in the area and producing less carbon emissions than importing from elsewhere, van Steveninck says.
The climate is already tight – what’s the solution?
However, Borkum is not a problem-free solution.
The gas suffers from image problems due to the earthquakes in Groningen, as well as Talvivaara’s reputation for a long time overshadowed the Finnish mining industry. Even now, in the neighboring province of Drenthe, the people object (switch to another service) another new gas field plan.
The bigger problem is that natural gas is a fossil fuel.
It is the least emitting of them, but still releases a lot of carbon dioxide into the air. Therefore, the German government no longer had to allow the opening of new gas fields.
The situation is difficult, says the director of the environmental consulting firm CE Delft Frans Rooijers. We are in Delft, 300 kilometers from Borkum.
– The climate does not tolerate extra carbon dioxide. But the Russian invasion has changed the situation, he says.
The gas shortage needs to be filled somewhere, and the Netherlands has already acted. It is bringing two LNG, or liquefied natural gas, terminal vessels to the port of Eemshaven near Groningen. Finland and Estonia have also rented a similar one.
But LNG alone will not solve the problems. The world market is tight, and U.S. or Qatari gas is no cleaner on paper than Dutch-German.
More genuinely renewable energy would be needed, but even if wind and solar power capacity is being built in the Netherlands at a rapid pace, it will take at least five to ten years to complete a significant amount.
Gas is a transitional product that aims to secure consumption in the 2020s.
CE Delft has tailored a compromise: companies would be required to capture as much carbon dioxide as gas production emits.
– If production is to be increased, companies must be required to recover. It is essential for the climate, Rooijers says.
The last straw: more production in the quake
There would be another solution to the gas shortage in the Netherlands.
It is an option that no one wants: to pump up the production of the Groningen gas field again.
This would be a huge setback for the residents of the area waiting for the quakes to end. There are already thousands of claims in the queue, totaling hundreds of millions of euros.
But the government has decided that in an emergency, production at the Groningen field can be increased. Most amazingly, according to polls, the majority of residents accept the idea.
– I see on TV every day what horrors Ukrainians have to go through. What I am saying is that gas should not be taken here if it is really needed, he says.
Warink has also discussed the Borkum gas field with an acquaintance working in the North Sea. He believes the field would not be detrimental to the area’s nature and there should be no risk of earthquakes.
We step out into the street. The picturesque little street on the surface of the village of just under 3,000 inhabitants is not what it looks like.
Warink points to neighboring houses. Almost everyone has biases, bulges, or fractures.
– Not all damage can be seen because it is under construction.
One house has already been torn to the ground, and the wooden frame of the new building is in shape.
Only the façade of Warink’s own house remains, all the interiors are demolished. When – it is not yet known. The cost of construction has risen and state compensation money is tight.
Confidence in the Hague governments has gone here, despite the fact that ministers have visited hard. There have been problems for as long as Warink, who turns 60 this week, remembers.
– When I was maybe ten, I saw a children’s program on TV. It already told how the country was sinking in the Groningen area. This has all taken far too long.