Land subsidence from Wadden Sea gas extraction stayed within limits in 2025
An independent commission has endorsed NAM's finding that gas extraction under the Wadden Sea did not push subsidence past the agreed limits, though those limits are getting closer.
Land subsidence caused by gas extraction under the Wadden Sea stayed within the agreed limits in 2025. That is the conclusion of the gas producer NAM, and an independent commission has now endorsed it. The commission judges NAM's monitoring programme to be of good quality.
There are also no indications that the gas extraction has changed the natural environment of the Wadden Sea or the Lauwersmeer, the commission found.
The commission notes that the agreed limits are coming closer. It advises investigating what this means for phasing out gas extraction in the area.
Six gas fields currently lie in the Wadden area. In Fryslân these are Nes, Moddergat and most of Lauwersoog-Centraal, Lauwersoog-Oost and Lauwersoog-West. Part of the Lauwersoog fields lies in Groningen, as does Vierhuizen-Oost.
It was announced earlier that no new gas extraction will take place at Ternaard in Fryslân.
NAM (Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij)
NAM is the Dutch oil and gas producer, a joint venture of Shell and ExxonMobil that extracts gas and oil from fields in the Netherlands, including the Wadden Sea. Because its gas extraction can cause land subsidence (bodemdaling), NAM runs a monitoring programme to measure ground movement, and its results are reviewed by independent experts.