Court orders new decision on compensation from oil company in Groningen earthquake case

A Dutch court ruling on compensation involving oil and gas company Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM), followed by revelations of possible widespread errors in thousands of earthquake safety reports, is increasing pressure on the Netherlands’ Groningen gas extraction damage response.

A court in Groningen ruled that NAM—owned by Shell and ExxonMobil—does not currently have to contribute to state compensation for the depreciation of unsold homes in the earthquake-affected Groningen region. The Dutch government had billed NAM approximately 526 million euros for compensation covering 2020 and 2021.

The court found that billing unlawful. Judges cited a 2019 Dutch Supreme Court ruling stating that the valuation date used—Jan. 1, 2019—was too early because it was not yet “sufficiently certain that significant fluctuations in the value of homes related to the risk of ground movement would not occur.”

The court ordered the Ministry of the Interior to issue a new decision and said that if the government believes conditions are now stable enough to calculate depreciation, it must clearly explain and justify that assessment.

In a separate ruling, the court sided with the government in a dispute over 268 million euros in damage settlement costs from 2020. NAM had challenged the geographic scope of the claims and the attribution of damage causes. The court ruled that the government acted in accordance with applicable rules in that case.

Separately, a government advisory body has found possible errors in thousands of structural safety reports used in the Groningen earthquake reinforcement program, raising concerns about whether homes were correctly assessed for seismic safety.

The Adviescollege Veiligheid Groningen (ACVG) is reviewing reports covering roughly 28,000 addresses in the earthquake zone after identifying potential flaws in the assessment system. According to sources cited by investigative platform Pointer and RTV Noord, some homes may have been incorrectly declared safe, while in other cases residents received reports intended for entirely different properties.

The reinforcement reports are produced under the authority of the Nationaal Coördinator Groningen (NCG). They determine whether homes are safe, must be strengthened, or require demolition and rebuilding due to earthquake risk caused by natural gas extraction.

The investigation was commissioned last year by former State Secretary Eddie van Marum following earlier reporting that identified flawed or insufficiently substantiated reinforcement assessments, including cases where documentation was linked to the wrong property.

A separate reference in the reporting indicates that errors have been identified in at least 213 reinforcement dossiers.

The ACVG review was originally scheduled for publication in December but has been delayed until this month. Some residents, including in Loppersum, have already been informed that their reports must be reassessed.

The ACVG said: “We will not respond to rumors or reporting about a report that is not yet finished.”

The Nationaal Coördinator Groningen said it will review the findings and determine next steps.

A spokesperson said: “In the coming period, we will study the ACVG report and determine what actions are necessary. Residents with questions or concerns can contact us. We are ready to help them.”