THE HAGUE: The Netherlands is planning to cut back natural gas extraction from the EU’s largest gas field by 11.1 per cent, a top Dutch official announced on Friday following years of minor earthquakes in the region. Economics Minister Henk Kamp said, “We’ve decided to turn the gas taps down to 24 billion cubic metres from 27 billion cubic metres for the next five years,” and added that following a series of minor earthquakes in the northern Groningen gas field, the government last year decided to cut gas production from 42.5 billion cubic metres to 39 billion and then further reduced the quota to 33 billion cubic metres. A top Dutch government advisory body, the Council of State, ordered Kamp to revise its quotas and placed a temporary cap on production of 27 billion cubic metres. The government was told to come up with a final production quota by October. “The new suggested production figure of 24 billion cubic metres is part of our approach over the last few years to reduce safety risks to Groningen’s residents and damage to buildings,” said Kamp. However, during an exceptionally cold winter or ‘if strictly necessary’ gas production could be pushed up, he added. Residents and interest groups now have six weeks from early July to voice their opinions on the government proposal before the decision is finalised in October when the five-year period starts. The Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie slammed the plan, saying in a statement ‘the proposed figure of 24 billion still lay far above the earthquake-proof norm.’ The group called on Groningen and other Dutch citizens to stage protests against gas extraction. Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said in December that a cut-back in natural gas production would cost the Netherlands 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in lost revenue in 2016. The cutbacks came after a series of tremors that rocked the northern Groningen province as a result of the collapse of empty underground gas pockets, scaring residents and damaging historical buildings in the area. Although the earthquakes were of low magnitude but they often happen close to the earth’s surface. After Norway, the Netherlands by 2014 was Western Europe’s second-largest natural gas exporter and income from natural gas constituted 2.6 per cent of the country’s total revenue, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). However, by May last year, natural gas imports for the first time overtook exports in the country which is the largest consumer of natural gas within the 34-member Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s (OECD).