The Hague city seeks EU waiver to buy Russian gas: press
The Dutch city of The Hague is seeking a temporary waiver of EU sanctions in order to continue getting natural gas from Russia's Gazprom, as it has hard difficulty finding another supplier, Euronews reported August 22.
EU rules demand that by October 10 all Russian gas supply contracts to national and city governments are cancelled. Limited exceptions to the rule can be made in cases where the authorities show there is "no viable alternative" to Gazprom imports.
The Hague's alderman for economic/international affairs Saskia Bruines has written to the local council to warn European tenders for gas in June and July failed to result in any supplier bids. She said The Hague has entered talks with various parties on a gas supply contract that would start on January 1, 2023, and wants Gazprom's contract to remain in force for the interim to "facilitate negotiations". "[This is most likely] to be granted as the condition for this has been met, namely a timely tender procedure for a new gas contract," Bruines added.
Russia has met 15-20% of Dutch gas imports in recent years. The Netherlands historically benefited from substantial domestic gas output from Europe's largest gas reserves, at the onshore Groningen gas field. But Groningen is set to close next year, owing to seismic tremors that have caused local communities extensive disruption, meaning local authorities have to pay compensation.
Groningen's reserves contain an estimated 450bn m3 of gas, which is reportedly sufficient to displace Russian gas imports to Europe for three years. Nienke Busscher, from the government-funded Groningen Knowledge Platform, told The Guardian August 22 there was currently a 238-day waiting list to claim compensation for damage to resident communities. Groningen was supposed to produce around 3.9bn m3/yr in the 2021-2022 gas year, with the annual quota set by Dutch regulators using seismic data recordings. This was increased to 7.6bn m3/yr to reflect increased pressure on European energy security in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Output is due to fall to 2.8m3/yr in 2023.
The April decision was made because the Netherlands plans to build new LNG import terminals to bring in LNG from overseas. A new LNG import project at Eemshaven, with a nameplate 8bn m3/yr capacity, is due on stream in coming weeks. Some Dutch observers have suggested Groningen's closure could be postponed to provide Europe with much-needed, low-carbon energy from within EU borders.
However the Dutch junior economic affairs minister Hans Vijbrief believes Groningen should only be used as a "last resort". A 33% fall in Dutch gas consumption allowed Dutch energy minister Rob Jetten to declare energy independence from Russian imports in July, so if Jetten is to be believed, the main point of contention is whether Groningen should help meet European gas needs.
Groningen is operated by Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij, a consortium backed by Shell and ExxonMobil that also operates smaller gas projects across the Netherlands.