By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor: 22 MAY 2019
A 3.4 magnitude earthquake has hit the northern Dutch region of Groningen in the latest in a series of tremors blamed on decades of gas extraction.
The Dutch government says it will decide in the coming weeks whether the quake should lead to a change in plans to end production from the Groningen field by 2030.
The government has pledged to end production from the field by 2030 and to lower it as quickly as possible in coming years; output is set to fall to 19.4B cm in the year through October 2019, down from a peak of 54B cm in 2013.
Gas company NAM, which runs the Groningen field, is a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM).
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