Groningen gas production likely reduced even further

The gas extraction in Groningen is "very unlikely" to increase in the second half of the year, VVD parliamentary leader Halbe Zijlstra said on Buitenhof yesterday. The government has been facing increasing pressure to reduce the gas extraction in Groningen as it is causing increasingly strong earthquakes. The province had two earthquakes in two days last week. Last week Minister Henk Kamp of Economic Affairs restricted the gas extraction in the province to 16.5 billion cubic meters until July 1st, but did not rule out that it could be increased to the official government cap of 39.4 billion cubic meters in the second half of the year. According to Zijlstra on Buitenhof however, production at the field is "unlikely to rise" above the current level, Reuters reports. "I estimate the chance that we will go back up on July 1 very small' he said. "But we need to research the consequences of less gas extraction."