(Reuters) – Mammoet said on Thursday it would support the decommissioning of one of the biggest gas well closure projects in the world, following Dutch government mandates to stop production at the Groningen field.
The private engineering firm will provide logistical and engineering support to Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), a joint venture of Shell and Exxon’s, to decommission all closed onshore gas wells along the Groningen field, north of the Netherlands.
NAM operates the gas field which was one of Europe’s main gas suppliers for decades.
Despite massive reserves, the Dutch government decided in 2018 to rapidly decrease production to prevent seismic risks, stopping it entirely last year.
In April, the Dutch Senate passed a law to permanently close the gas field to prevent any potential resumption of production.
“Closure of the first well started on May 1, 2024, with the project expected to continue for more than a decade,” Mammoet said in a release
The project involves removing 800 gas production wells and 1,750 kilometers (1,087 miles) of pipeline.
In February, Exxon and Shell asked an arbitration court to determine if the state should compensate them for ending gas production at the fields.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
