In the past five years, the Dutch have started using more gas. Preliminary figures from gas seller GasTerra show that Dutch gas consumption increased by a total of 5.2 billion cubic meters between 2015 and 2020, according to the report. Financial times.
Gas Trading House explains that electricity producers are increasingly generating electricity from natural gas, as it has become cheaper compared to electricity from coal-fired power plants. In addition, many coal-fired power plants have closed in recent years, which is beneficial for gas-fired power plants.
However, the increase in gas consumption is noticeable, as less and less gas has been extracted in the Netherlands since 2014. This is partly due to the growing social dissatisfaction with the earthquakes in Groningen.
Reduced extraction makes the Netherlands more dependent on foreign gas. In 2018, for the first time in decades, more gas was imported than exports. That year, the Netherlands entered 5 billion cubic meters of gas more than was produced. Last year, that difference increased to 17 billion cubic meters of gas, says GasTerra.
Most of the imported gas comes from Norway and Russia. At the end of last year, Statistics Netherlands calculated that the share of natural gas in the domestic energy supply is 44 percent.
Another significant drop in GasTerra’s turnover
GasTerra again sold significantly less gas in 2020 compared to the previous year. The company, which trades in the purchase and sale of gas, has seen its sales volume drop from 8.8 billion euros in 2019 to 5.5 billion euros in 2020. In 2015, the company, which will cease to exist within three years, was still recording a turnover of 14.7 One billion euros.
The company attributes the low turnover mainly to reduced gas supplies from Groningen and small fields. The average high temperatures and lower gas prices could have led to a decrease in the volume of gas circulating last year by about 10 billion to 41.6 billion cubic meters.
