Dutch government aims to halt gas extraction by mid-2022

The Dutch government says it expects to stop extracting gas from a vast underground field in the country’s north by mid-2022, ending decades of lucrative drilling.

Economic Affairs and Climate Minister Eric Wiebes informed Dutch lawmakers of the likely end of drilling in the Groningen gas field in a letter to parliament Tuesday.

The government has been under pressure to halt gas extraction because it has caused a series of earthquakes that have badly damaged thousands of homes in the region in recent years.

Last year, the government said it planned to fully stop drilling by 2030.

Wiebes says that extraction will be cut to 11.8 billion cubic meters next year, which will cost the government 400 million euros in lost income.