<article><p class="lead">The Netherlands' Grijpskerk high-calorie gas storage site may be switched to hold low-calorie supply, rather than being closed by the end of next year as initially planned by operator Nam.</p><p>The Dutch economy ministry said today that it has asked system operator GTS to investigate whether the site can be switched to hold low-calorie gas. This could help to ensure security of low-calorie supply once production from the Groningen field halts, the ministry said.</p><p>The ministry intends to halt Groningen output completely by mid-2022 in a bid to reduce seismic risk in the region. Previous plans had envisaged that the field would remain on standby until at least about mid-2025 to serve as a back-up that could help meet northwest European low-calorie demand in situations of exceptionally strong consumption or disruptions to other sources of supply.</p><p>But Nam, which operates Groningen as well as Grijpskerk, in July called for the field to be <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2128322">closed completely in 2022</a>. Keeping it on standby afterwards would likely be unnecessary while requiring substantial production to be maintained to ensure sufficient flexibility, Nam had said.</p><p>Nam had said in late 2018 that it <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/1808359">intended to close Grijpskerk</a> in the fourth quarter of 2021. But it <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2108402">said earlier this year</a> that closure plans were put "on hold" and that the economy ministry would have to make a final decision on the facility's future. This followed calls by system operator GTS not to take any "irreversible decisions" until further studies on security of supply have been carried out. Grijpskerk has a working gas capacity of around 27.7TWh.</p><p class="bylines">By Stefan Krümpelmann</p></article>
