The Hague eyes sector agreement to support gas output

The new Dutch government aims to reach agreement with the oil and gas sector on support for domestic North Sea production, while introducing a new law to make gas supply more secure.

The government in its new longer-term plan set out a new policy approach to its promise to "scale up" domestic gas production from the North Sea. A sector agreement would "increase investment security and the predictability of government policy", the cabinet said.

Dutch domestic gas production is in long-term decline, although the climate and green growth ministry, and research organisation TNO, forecast some scope for domestic production to stay stable until around 2030 before dropping, depending on overall investment. Much like the previous government, the current administration has stated its intention to boost North Sea production. Former mining minister Hans Vijlbrief said last year that the government was moving to slow the rate of gas output decline "as much as possible".

The previous coalition government had already been using tailor-made agreements with companies involving decarbonisation, while the new incoming coalition cabinet in May announced its intention to use this policy tool in other areas as well. The government released a more detailed outline of planned policies and legislative changes on 13 September, after the previous coalition agreement was published in mid-May.

And by the fourth quarter, the government plans to consult on a new law to "strengthen crisis preparedness in the field of gas market and increase robustness for the gas system". This includes some EU-level developments, such as a focus on energy savings in the new European regulation on security of gas supply, the government said.

And the cabinet said it would examine how "the government, in addition to the market, can take a more proactive role in ensuring that gas storages are filled". The Netherlands does not presently have a strategic gas reserve, unlike other countries such as Austria or Italy. And in the coalition agreement, the parties had set out to "establish reserves" for gas, in order to keep the giant Groningen gas field closed.

By Till Stehr