Extraction Plans
In March 2025, the then Minister of Climate and Green Growth approved the Warffum gas extraction plan submitted by NAM. The plan extends gas extraction from the existing Warffum gas field until December 2032. At that time, gas extraction was halted. The Provincial Executive of Groningen and the Association for Village Interests Warffum requested the preliminary relief judge of the Administrative Jurisdiction Division to suspend the decision until a final ruling in this case is made. In June 2025, the preliminary relief judge rejected that request after weighing all interests involved. The interest of NAM in a swift resumption of gas extraction was deemed more important than the requesters interest in preventing social unrest and feelings of insecurity among residents.
New Suspension Request
Since June 2025, hardly any gas has been extracted from the Warffum gas field and the installation at Grijpskerk has not stopped functioning, the importance of supply security is considered by the association and the executive to be less than previously assumed by the preliminary relief judge. Therefore, they filed a second suspension request.
Resumption of Gas Extraction Still Important
In todays ruling, the preliminary relief judge considers that the fact that the Grijpskerk installation has continued to operate despite the failure to resume gas extraction from the Warffum gas field detracts from the importance assigned to the swift resumption of gas extraction in the provisional ruling of June 5, 2025. However, the judge still finds the resumption of gas extraction from the Warffum gas field important. It remains likely that gas extraction from Warffum is necessary to keep the Grijpskerk installation running and important for gas extraction in the Netherlands. Additionally, it is likely that the longer the Warffum gas field remains idle, the harder it will be to restart it.
Balancing of Interests
The preliminary relief judge realizes that resuming gas extraction from the Warffum gas field will reinforce existing feelings of social unrest and insecurity among residents. At the same time, the significant interests in gas extraction from Warffum are still deemed likely by the judge. These interests of NAM and the minister still outweigh those of the requesters in the judges provisional opinion. Therefore, the judge sees no reason to rule differently than in the earlier ruling of June 5, 2025.