Review of subsidence management in The Netherlands

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, which deals with concessions, directs the supervision of oil- and gas-induced land subsidence and its impact on the environment. The Mining Law dictates that the subsidence process has to be monitored during production and to be compared to the prediction provided in an exploitation plan, the basis of a concession. The accuracy of monitoring and its interpretation is essential for the production stated in the plan. The Dutch Technical Committee on Land Movement (TCBB) is the advisor of the Ministry in matters of concessions and damage claims related to subsidence and induced vibrations. Recently, the Committee has reviewed the different methods of prediction and validation, since various methods may produce different answers, which gives rise to speculation, dispute and suspicion. The outcome of the review is considered to fit the existing law and resulted in an outline for a practitioners guide to be created by the industry. This paper describes the Dutch supervision system and explains the different issues and the chosen way to proceed.