AMSTERDAM, Jan 8 (Reuters) – The Dutch minister for the economy said on Monday that output at the large Groningen gas field should be reduced “by as much as possible” during the current government term through 2021.
Eric Wiebes made the comment following a magnitude 3.4 tremor earlier on Monday that was the largest in recent years.
Dozens of earthquakes every year, resulting from decades of gas extraction, have caused damage to thousands of buildings and homes and prompted a dramatic shift in government policy now aimed at capping output.
The new coalition government under Prime Minister Mark Rutte has already agreed to reduce output to around 20 billion cubic metres (bcm) from a current 21.6 bcm, Wiebes was quoted by the ANP news agency as saying in a reaction to Monday’s quake.
“I will try to reduce by as much as possible,” he said. “Whatever it takes, we have to bring down gas production. The Netherlands has to stop using natural gas.”
Amid an ongoing legal battle, the government had proposed last year capping production at the Groningen gas field at 21.6 bcm per year for five years, after a 2015 report found production was risking lives.
That reduction, the justification for which is currently under a legal review, would be down from 24 bcm in the production year just ended and 39.4 bcm in 2015-16.
The NAM joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil operates the Groningen field.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch, editing by David Evans)
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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