Natural resources and geothermal energy in the Netherlands Natural resources and geothermal Ministry of Economic Affairs energy in the Netherlands Directorate-General Energy, Telecommunications and Competition June 2013 Annual review 2012 Annual review 2012 For more information: Ministry of Economic Affairs www.nlog.nl NATURAL RESOURCES AND GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN THE NETHERLANDS Annual review 2012 A review of exploration and production activities and underground storage. 1 2 Preface The annual review on ‘Natural resources and geothermal energy in the Netherlands’ reports on the activities and results of exploration and production of hydrocarbons, rock salt and geothermal energy in the Netherlands. Moreover the underground storage of various substances (e.g. natural gas, nitrogen, CO2 and brackish water) is included as well. In this way all the exploration, production and storage activities in the Netherlands and the Netherlands’ part of the Continental shelf, related to the realm of the Mining Act, are combined in this report. The first section of the report deals with developments during the year 2012. The section shows the developments in the exploration, production and underground storage of hydrocarbons. It concerns changes in natural gas and oil resource estimates during 2012 and the way these changes affected the situation at 1 January 2013. This section also presents a prognosis for the gas production for the next 25 years. This year the remaining resources of natural gas and oil are reported in accordance with the Petroleum Resource Management System. This system should lead to a uniform classification of all reported resources. Subsequently, a number of tables summarise developments during 2012, with respect to licences and exploration efforts (seismic surveys and wells drilled). This section ends with a summary of the volumes of natural gas, condensate and oil that were produced in 2012. The subsequent chapters report on the exploration for and production of coal, rock salt and geothermal energy and on the underground storage of substances. The second section comprises a large number of annexes that report on the current situation as well as on historical developments during the past decades. Subsequently an overview of the situation as at 1 January 2013 is presented in the final part of the review. This review has been compiled by TNO (Geological Survey of the Netherlands ), at the request of the Energy Market Directorate of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The annual review contains the data that, in accordance with the provisions of article 125 of the Mining Act, will be presented to both Chambers of Dutch Parliament on behalf of the Minister of Economic Affairs. The digital version of this publication can be found at the Netherlands Oil and Gas Portal: www.nlog.nl Facts and figures may only be reproduced from this annual review with full reference to the source. No rights can be derived from this review. The Hague, June 2013. 3 4 CONTENT Preface………………………………………………………………………………………………....3 KEY DATA 2012 ..................................................................................................................... 9 1. Natural gas resource and future gas supply from within the Netherlands ........................ 11 2. Oil resources .................................................................................................................. 26 3. Hydrocarbon licences, Netherlands Territory in 2012 ...................................................... 28 4. Hydrocarbon licences, Netherlands Continental shelf in 2012 ........................................ 30 5. Hydrocarbon licences, company changes, name changes and legal mergers in 2012 .... 33 6. Seismic acquisition ......................................................................................................... 35 7. Oil and gas wells, completed in 2012 .............................................................................. 36 8. Platforms and pipelines, Netherlands Continental shelf .................................................. 39 9. Gas and oil production .................................................................................................... 40 10. Underground storage ...................................................................................................... 47 11. Coal ................................................................................................................................ 50 12. Rock salt ......................................................................................................................... 51 13. Geothermal energy ......................................................................................................... 55 ANNEXES 1. Natural gas and oil accumulations by status as at 1 january 2013 .................................. 58 2. Exploration licences, netherlands territory as at 1 january 2013 ..................................... 71 3. Production licences, netherlands territory as at 1 january 2013 ...................................... 72 4. Storage licences, netherlands territory as at 1 january 2013 ........................................... 74 5. Exploration licences, netherlands continental shelf as at january 2013 ........................... 75 6. Production licences, netherlands continental shelf as at 1 january 2013 ......................... 79 7. List of blocks. Netherlands continental shelf as at 1 january 2013 .................................. 88 8. Seismic surveys .............................................................................................................. 95 9. Oil and gas wells, number of wells netherlands territory ................................................. 97 10. Oil and gas wells, number of wells netherlands continental shelf .................................... 98 11. Number of wells, netherlands territory and continental shelf as of 1960 .......................... 99 st 12. Platforms, netherlands continental shelf as at january 1 2012 ..................................... 101 13. Pipelines. Netherlands continental shelf as at 1 january 2012 ...................................... 106 3 14. Gas production in million sm ....................................................................................... 112 3 15. Gas reserves and cumulative production in billion sm ................................................. 114 3 16. Oil production in 1 000 sm ........................................................................................... 116 3 17. Oil reserves and cumulative production in million sm .................................................. 118 18. Natural gas revenues.................................................................................................... 120 19. Authorities concerned with mining operations ............................................................... 123 20. Definitions of selected terms ......................................................................................... 124 APPENDICES 1. Exploration, production and storage licences as at 1 january 2013 .............................. 130 2. Wells and changes in licence situation in 2012 ............................................................. 132 3. Summary of 3d seismic surveys ................................................................................... 134 4. Production platforms and pipelines ............................................................................... 136 5. Gas and oil accumulations and pipelines as at 1 january 2013 ..................................... 138 6. Coal and rocksalt licences as at 1 january 2013 ........................................................... 140 7. Geothermal energy licences as at 1 january 2013 ........................................................ 142 8. Geological time scale.................................................................................................... 144 9. Mining legislation map .................................................................................................. 146 5 6 In this annual review, natural gas and oil volumes are stated in terms of ‘standard’ m 3, usually abbreviated as Sm 3. ’Standard’ relates to the reference conditions: 15° C and 101.325 kPa. In some cases the natural gas volumes are stated in terms of: -Normal m 3 (Nm 3). “Normal” relates to the reference conditions: 0°C and 101.325 kPa. -Groningen Gas Equivalent, which has a gross calorific value of 35.17 MJ/ m 3 at 0°C and 101.325 kPa. In such cases this is explicitly stated in the text. 7 8 KEY DATA 2012 Natural gas and oil resources The discovered natural gas resources as at 1 January 2013 are estimated to be 1130 billion Sm 3. 824 billion Sm 3 of these reside in the Groningen gas field, 144 billion Sm 3 in the other onshore fields and 163 billion Sm 3 in the fields on the Dutch part of the North Sea Continental Shelf. Oil resources as at 1 January 2013 add up to 48.1 million Sm 3. 41.4 million Sm 3 of which reside in onshore oil fields and 6.7 million Sm 3 in fields on the Continental Shelf. Licences for hydrocarbons During 2012 there were seven applications for an exploration licence for the onshore territory. Two exploration licences are awarded and three are prolonged. One production licence is awarded while one other licence was relinquished. Two production licences are split. For the Continental Shelf five exploration licences were awarded. One exploration licence was split, one restricted and seven were prolonged. Ten exploration