Dutch Nam nears gas field approval
The Dutch upstream company NAM has had draft government approval for its development plan for the Ternaard gas field, it said September 8. “The design decision brings the production of the Ternaard gas field one step closer. In recent years we have gone through an intensive environmental process with the environment and authorities in northeast Friesland. We have made agreements on the conditions under which any gas extraction can take place, if the permit is granted,” it said.
The Ternaard field is under the Wad, an environmentally sensitive area and home to a large wildfowl population. "As with the other gas fields under the Wad, Ternaard is subject to the tap principle. The subsidence may not be greater than the supply of sediment from the sea, nature thus compensates for the subsidence, as it were," NAM said.
So far, the "many annual studies into possible consequences for nature... show that there are no adverse effects. We will therefore continue to commit ourselves in the coming years to responsible and sustainable gas extraction in the Wadden area. If our gas extraction is or becomes an actual threat to the Wadden Sea Region at any time, we will stop it,” it said.
A test drilling was carried out in 1991, but it has not yet been put into production. NAM has been extracting natural gas in Northeast Friesland since 1985 and since 2007 also from fields that are partly under the Wadden.
Government policy directs that domestic natural gas is given a "clear preference over imported natural gas when it can be done safely and responsibly," NAM said, referring to the Dutch Small Fields Policy. Among its reasons is the significantly lower CO2 emissions from domestic gas.
This notion of preferring domestic to imported energy is a contentious one in the UK: non-governmental organisations are calling for the refusal of a permit to develop the Cambo oilfield, although not producing the reserves will mean more imported oil and a higher carbon footprint. The field has already satisfied the regulatory standards on environmental impact and could lower the UK average carbon intensity (emissions per barrel of oil equivalent).