Northern Netherlands Trembles as Gas Extraction Triggers Quakes
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Arie de Langen says he never thought he'd have to worry about earthquakes in his northern Dutch village of Sappemeer.
Quakes were unheard of and homes in the dozens of towns and villages that dot the region were built with wooden frames and beamed roofs. Then a venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's No. 2 oil company, and Exxon Mobil Corp. began extracting natural gas in the region, triggering land shifts.
Now de Langen and about 150,000 other people living atop the crumbling 900 square-kilometer (560 square-mile) gas field are concerned quakes could shake loose beams or bring down roofs. An Aug. 5 tremor was the nation's second-strongest this year. The region had at least 30 quakes this year, putting it on course for the most tremors since records began in 1987.
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GULF OF MEXICO
Production Induced Seafloor Subsidence in Offshore Oil and Gas Fields as a Possible Contributor to Onshore Reactivation and Land Subsidence
...production of large volumes of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs has been shown to cause subsidence of the land surface. Prior studies suggests the vast majority of the production induced land loss appears to have occurred within the last 50 years, with the highest land subsidence rates corresponding to the maximum rates of hydrocarbon and produced fluids extraction. Production induced subsidence is a significant contributor to the continuing land loss problem in coastal and southern Louisiana.
