The Netherlands halted extraction from Europe’s biggest gas field on Sunday, which was resulting in earthquakes that have shaken local residents for decades and threaten to persist.
The Netherlands halted extraction from Europe’s biggest gas field on Sunday, which was resulting in earthquakes that have shaken local residents for decades and threaten to persist.
Authorities are keeping 11 extraction wells open at the Groningen gas field for another year, however, in case of a severe winter, before shutting its gates for good against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions.
People living near the site, which opened in the early 1960s, have complained for more than 20 years of being terrorized by quakes directly attributed to drilling operations.
The local population had been experiencing low-magnitude, near-surface quakes caused by vacuum pockets formed during gas extraction, which caused widespread damage to homes and other buildings.
