Dutch court to rule on Groningen gas output on Friday

The Netherlands’ highest general administrative court will rule on natural gas production from the Eemskanaal cluster of fields in the Groningen region at 10:00, Amsterdam time on Friday, 29 May.

The council of state will decide whether or not production should be halted from the cluster which yielded 540 million cubic metres (mcm) or 5% of total Groningen production in the first four months of 2015.

On 14 April, the Dutch court instructed the government and field operator NAM to drastically cut production from Loppersum, which is the area most vulnerable to earthquakes, but denied a request to halt production from Eemskanaal and other regions. The latest decision is in response to a new request from another objecting party.

The court confirmed it will make a final judgement on Groningen gas production later in the year, following a hearing on 10 and 11 September. The government intends to make its own final decision on the annual Groningen production cap, which currently stands at 42.5 billion cubic metres, by 1 July.

During Thursday trading, contracts on the TTF prompt and near curve moved up with some traders citing the impending decision as a key driver. jake.horslen@icis.com