Hydrocarbons in the Netherlands: Exploration and Development in Historic and Future Perspective

Abstract

Triggered by the discovery of the giant Groningen gas field (2700 bcm) in 1959, the hydrocarbon exploration in the Netherlands was strongly boosted. Over the last decades, the country has proved to be a very prolific hydrocarbon province, particularly for natural gas. Supported by the favorable exploration climate, exploration effects have been at a high and sustained level. Well over 250 gas reservoirs have been discovered throughout the stratigraphic column in various plays. Field sizes range from medium (about 50 bcm) down to very small (2 bcm or less). Total initial reserves in these fields are approximately 1100 bcm. A mature stage of exploration has been reached in many areas. However, within a few years, virtually all production acreage and large parts of the exploration acreage in the Netherlands will have been covered with three-dimensional (3-D) seismic. Improvement of exploration drilling efficiency has already been shown in terms of increased technical success rates. Moreover, the use of 3-D seismics has proven cases of additional prospectivity undetected before. Here, a major possibility, and challenge, for finding future incremental reserves is present. On the development side, nearly all large- and medium-size gas fields have, or shortly will, come on stream. However, themore » majority of the relatively large population of small and marginal fields is still undeveloped. Here, the challenge is to reduce economic limits by a.o. further expansion of infrastructure and the application of modern marginal field development technology. Actual examples illustrate the possibilities to increase the developed reserves.« less