Gasunie Prepares for Green Future

Dutch gas transporter Gasunie reported March 1 a profit of €325mn ($369mn) on last year's business, up about a quarter on 2017, while revenues rose from €1.241bn to €1.247bn. But after allowing for a favourable corporation tax change, impairments, a voluntary severance scheme that 240 staff accepted and a buyout of employee benefits, the normalised result after taxation fell €57mn year on year to €311mn.

This lower result was partly due to spending €22mn more on nitrogen to make more low-calorie, Grongingen-substitute gas and to a €16mn provision for bad debts. The Dutch state, the sole owner, will receive €228mn.

Gasunie transported 116bn m³, down 6% from 124bn m³ in 2017 as there was less high calorie gas to transport abroad in the last two months of the year. That was when northwest European imports of LNG picked up sharply.

But it produced 12% more low calorie gas: 28.9bn m³, up from 25.8bn m³ in 2017. Work started on the construction of Zuidbroek nitrogen installation, to start operation at the beginning of 2022 and that will replace 7bn m³/yr of gas from the Groningen field. That means that Groningen output can then fall to 12bn m³/yr, which is sooner than was expected in March last year; and ultimately to zero. The government wants to end Groningen output and the tremors that accompany it. 

The supply of high-calorific gas from abroad rose by 19% to 39.3bn m³, while LNG supply almost tripled to 2.5bn m³. Gasunie is working with partners to expand the gas roundabout in Germany to include an LNG terminal.

In 2018, Gasunie started work on the construction of the first 'green gas booster', together with Enexis. This raises the pressure of the gas, allowing green gas from the regional network to be fed into GTS's national network. It is building a demo installation in Alkmaar where wet biomass like manure and sewage sludge can be gasified into green gas and hydrogen. Gasunie is realising the installations and related pipelines.