The Dutch government and energy companies Shell and Exxon Mobil ignored the risks of gas production in Groningen for years, to the detriment of people living in the province, a parliamentary inquiry concluded on Friday.
A statement from NAM director Johan Atema said: "It is clear that we need to have a better eye for the society in which we work. It is up to us to show that we as a company have learned from this."
The government and NAM have previously acknowledged the seismic risks of gas production in the region and promised to compensate victims of the tremors, but they have spent years deciding how to do so. Groningen gas production has been cut back significantly over the past decade and will be halted in the coming year because of the threat to life and property from the resulting earth tremors."Gas extraction in Groningen was so successful and lucrative for the Dutch government, Shell and Exxon Mobil that they hardly took any notion of the long-term risks and the ever-clearer signs of the detrimental effects for the people in Groningen," it said.
The Dutch state and the oil companies must finally make good on their debt to the people of Groningen, the committee said, adding that Prime Minister Rutte had made "empty promises".
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