Vision

Since its discovery in 1959, the Groningen field, at that time the largest gas field in the world, has produced over 2000 billion m3 of natural gas. More than 90% of Dutch homes use natural gas for heating. GasTerra was the exclusive purchaser of gas from the Groningen field. We then sold this gas on the domestic market to wholesale customers and on the Dutch trading hub TTF. At the moment we are still buying gas from the small Dutch fields, from Norway and on the TTF. We sell the gas under long-term contracts and on the trading hub.

In addition to low-calorific Groningen gas, GasTerra also trades in high-calorific gas. This gas comes mainly from smaller Dutch gas fields in the North Sea and onshore and from imports from Norway. High-calorific gas is used by industry in the Netherlands and abroad. Low-calorific gas can also be produced by means of quality conversion (adding nitrogen into the mixture in special plants). With production from Groningen now finished, all the Groningen-quality gas required is met by this ‘pseudo’ Groningen gas. This means that all households and other customers dependent on this quality of gas will be supplied entirely with this pseudo Groningen gas.

Gas is under pressure: its position and image are no longer viewed favourably. Its positive features, such as comfort, flexibility and versatility are fading into the background. The main reason for this – alongside, in the Netherlands, the serious consequences of gas extraction from the Groningen field – is increased global awareness that the share of fossil fuels in the energy mix must fall sharply over the coming decades to prevent the average temperature rising by more than one-and-a-half to two degrees due to human activity. The Paris Agreement (2015), which is supported by most countries, has formally endorsed this aim and contains agreements for substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Natural gas can help to reduce CO₂ emissions by replacing more polluting fuels such as oil and, especially, coal, where it is possible and meaningful to do so. Nevertheless, an increasingly large group sees natural gas as primarily part of the problem rather than part of the solution. But the reality is that natural gas is both. For the time being, gas is indispensable – worldwide, in Europe and in the Netherlands – and will remain so in the coming decades, both as regards security of supply and responsible climate policy.

In the transition towards a climate-neutral energy supply, natural gas will increasingly be used only where more sustainable alternatives are at present less attractive. Our industry is also working hard to improve the sustainability of gas itself by promoting the production of green gas and by investigating and testing the potential for sustainable hydrogen as well as building or adapting the infrastructure required for this purpose. In other words: gas by design.