TIMELINE-Dutch natural gas developments

Published: 10 Sep 2009 16:58:19 PST

Sept 10 - As traditional Dutch gas resources decline, developers in the Netherlands are eyeing new forms of gas exploitation but say technological advances and state stimulus measures will be needed for projects to go ahead.

Here is a timeline of some significant Dutch gas/energy developments since 1947:

Sept 1947- Shell and Esso establish Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) following oil field discoveries in the Netherlands.

1948- NAM makes the first natural gas discovery in the Netherlands in Coevorden.

1955- Traces of natural gas are spotted in north Groningen, underneath a bed of salt.

July 1959- Drilling starts on the massive Groningen gas field in the northeastern Netherlands.

1961- NAM is the first company in Western Europe to drill for gas in the North Sea.

December 9, 1963- The first gas from the Groningen field is delivered by NAM to state-owned pipeline operator Gasunie (founded the same year) for the Dutch market.

1960s/70s- Dutch produce more and more natural gas and face the "Dutch disease", a process of unbound government spending of natural gas proceeds, boosting inflation and undermining the country's industrial investments and economic growth.

1994 - Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm creates a fund to use part of the gas proceeds for infrastructure investments, in an attempt to fight the "Dutch disease" phenomenon. Later other innovation projects are added to the fund.

2003- Gasunie sets up the Title Transfer Facility (TTF), a virtual trading point for natural gas.

Dec 2006- Transmission of gas from the Netherlands to Britain starts along the BBL pipeline from Balgzand to Bacton.

Feb 2007 - After more than a decade of legal procedures, Gasunie delivers the first gas from newly discovered fields, containing at least an estimated 20 billion cubic metres, under the Wadden Sea, a wildlife area in the North of the Netherlands.

Dec 2007- Dutch oil storage firm Vopak and Gasunie announce plans to build the Netherlands' first liquefied natural gas terminal in the port of Rotterdam.

Aug 2009- Gazprom and Taqa sign deal for the Bergemeer gas storage project in the Netherlands.