NAM stops discharging waste water in Twente, moved to Drenthe

The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) wants to stop discharging waste water in Twente within three years. The company confirmed this on Wednesday. In a council meeting in the municipality of Dinkelland, where local news channel RTV East was present on Tuesday evening, board member Simon Vroemen said that leaving Twente has “great urgency” for NAM. After leaving Twente, the waste water will from now on be returned to the ground in Drenthe.

The waste water is a by-product of the Drenthe oil extraction in Schoonebeek. It is currently transported to Twente via an underground pipeline, where it is injected into an unused lawn. Now the NAM declares that “support for this activity in the Twente region is declining sharply”, and that the water injection should therefore take place in the region where the water also comes out of the ground. Because the permit for the move to Drenthe has not yet been completed, NAM gives itself three years to leave Twente.

Steam is used in the oil extraction in Schoonebeek, which makes the oil more liquid, making it easier to extract. The water that is left over contains toxic chemicals. According to the NAM, these do not end up in the water of residents, but residents of Twente who have united, among other things, in the citizens’ initiative Stop Afvalwater Twente, are not reassured. At the end of 2021, NAM temporarily stopped water injection after a crack was discovered in the outer tube of a well. It later turned out that this crack had been in place since 2017.

In December, a majority of the House of Representatives already supported a motion about immediately suspending the discharge of waste water by the NAM in Twente. At the time, outgoing Minister of Economic Affairs Stef Blok advised against the motion, because he could not simply revoke the company’s license.