The government has reached an agreement with Shell and ExxonMobil to halt plans for gas extraction near the Frisian village of Ternaard. In return, the companies will receive €163 million in compensation for giving up their drilling rights.

Shell and ExxonMobil are the shareholders of the Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), which applied in 2019 for a permit to extract gas from a field partly located under the Wadden Sea.

The cabinet announced in May that it would examine whether drilling at Ternaard could still be prevented, because of widespread concerns about damage to the vulnerable Wadden region.

Outgoing climate minister Sophie Hermans told NOS she was “very pleased that we have now forced a breakthrough”.

“I sincerely hope this brings calm and clarity,” she said. “With this agreement we are responding to strong calls from parliament and society not to allow new gas extraction under the Wadden Sea at Ternaard.”

The environment and transport inspectorate (ILT) and state mining regulator SodM both advised against the project. SodM warned that rapidly rising sea levels meant new drilling could cause parts of the Wadden area to disappear permanently under water, threatening the area’s Unesco World Heritage status.

Environmental organisations have also repeatedly campaigned against opening the site up to gas extraction. A majority of people in Friesland opposed the plan in the 2023 provincial elections.

Gas has been extracted under the Wadden Sea since 1980 and in 2024 NAM was given an extension to its permit for drilling at Warffum in Groningen. That application was approved late last year after officials concluded operations there were safe and could continue until 2032.

The cabinet says the gas is still needed for heating homes and keeping businesses running, and that domestic production reduces dependence on other countries.

Long-running disputes

The State has been in conflict with Shell and ExxonMobil for several years over the future of the much bigger Groningen gas field, compensation for earthquake damage and the housing reinforcement programme in the province.

After agreements were reached in 2018, the cabinet later accelerated the phase-out of Groningen gas and costs for damage repair rose sharply. The disagreements led to multiple legal proceedings which have still not been completed.

Gas extraction stopped in the Groningen field in 2023 because of the quake damage, but smaller fields are not covered by that ban.