Gas field earthquakes put Netherlands’ biggest firms on extraction notice

Government tells 200 companies they have four years to stop sourcing gas from Groningen field after increasingly significant earthquakes

Two hundred of the Netherlands' biggest companies have been told by their government to stop sourcing fuel from a major Dutch gas field within four years following a series of increasingly significant earthquakes.

Extraction from the Groningen field, one of Europe's richest sources of gas, is operated in a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, but has been capped in recent years by ministers due to seismic activity in the area.