Timeline: Groningen production cap developments in 2015

Low-calorific natural gas production from the Netherlands’ Groningen, Europe’s biggest onshore field, has had a major impact on energy markets this year. Public safety fears regarding earthquakes resulting from gas extraction have increased, piling pressure on the Dutch government and the field’s operator NAM.

At present a 30 billion cubic metre production cap is in place for calendar year 2015 – which is now 74% exhausted – and a 33 billion cubic metre cap is active for the 2015 gas year, running from 1 October 2015 – 30 September 2016.

Review the key developments with our 2015 timeline of events.