How a small earthquake in 2012 exacerbated the energy crisis in Europe today

In 2012, the Netherlands was hit by an earthquake measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale. This earthquake was caused by one of the largest gas fields in the world, known as Groningen. This seismic phenomenon unleashed a chain of events that today contribute decisively to the rise in energy prices in Europe.

That earthquake led to a move in the Netherlands to put an end to this gas activity, which generates important changes in the earth’s interior and endangers its stability in certain areas of the country. After years of debate and deliberation, the government decided to begin dismantling these facilities, which in one year produced all the gas that the whole of Germany had consumed in the same period of time.

Since then, gas production in this area began to decline significantly, which made Europe a region increasingly dependent on gas coming from Russia and Africa. Now, the need for natural gas for power production with the inability of other sources to supply the electricity grid of the old continent is causing an energy crisis with a difficult solution. This is how the natural gas market works

In addition, the government of the Netherlands has confirmed that it will go ahead with its plans to end gas production in Groningen. The government said production from this field will fall by more than 50% in the year ending October 2022, the last year of regular production.

It will only be extracted in extreme weather conditions

In 2019, the Dutch state announced that production in Groningen would end in mid-2022 to reduce seismic risk in the region, and that gas would only be extracted after that in case of severe weather conditions, so some sites would remain suspended.

To maintain the operation of these areas, about 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas will be extracted annually. The government believes that this area could become storage facilities between 2025 and 2028, but has asked regulators to analyze whether this process can be carried out faster.

Low storage levels

Today, even imported gas is not worth it. A member of the Dutch government said in early October that gas storage levels in the Netherlands are around 60% of their potential capacity, which is cause for concern, but “not a crisis”.

Britta van Boven, a member of the board of directors of Gasunie, the Dutch gas network operator, believes that storage levels need to be higher to deal with the harsh winter, but high prices and shortages of supplies have led to this situation also affecting Europe.

“Storage levels are around 60% of capacity, which is somewhat concerning as they have to be nearly full at the end of winter to cover the cold days,” Van Boven said.

The importance of gas

Natural gas makes up about 40% of the Dutch energy mix. This energy source is widely used by industrial companies at European level and also for heating millions of homes.

After decades of being a net exporter, the country has had to dramatically increase gas imports from Russia and Norway in the face of the planned shutdown of the massive Groningen gas field.

To meet the growing demand, the Dutch and Europeans will have to compete in the forest for the gas they need, and this is to search for the necessary gas on the international market, where prices are reaching record levels due to lack of supplies.

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