A joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil is considering appealing against a Dutch government plan to cut production at the Groningen gas field by 10 percent.
The Dutch officials intend to go push through a tightening of output at the massive field from October. Interested parties had until July 7 to announce an appeal.
Shell and Exxon have a 50-50 venture known as NAM. The JV said that the measure was “disproportionate” and ignored previously agreed safety norms, which do not call for such a large reduction.
The NAM said it appeared as if the government wanted it to “provide absolute safety guarantees” which cannot be reasonably be expected.
The proposed cut, first announced in April, is the latest in a series over the past two years following earthquakes causing major damage to properties in the northernmost region of the Netherlands.
With the new cut, production will be capped at 21.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year, down from 53.9 bcm in 2013. NAM has accepted civil responsibility for damage caused by the quakes and is paying damages of more than 1 billion euros (£864.03 million).