The UK also produces significant amounts of associated natural gas from its oil fields in the UKCS. Like the oil industry, smaller independent operators have been able to acquire some maturing assets from larger operators who find it difficult to operate these older, declining fields profitably.
7-1-2-4 The Netherlands Holland has succeeded in maintaining a large production of gas, and in 2012 natural gas production was 80.78 billion Nm³ – a small decline compared with the 2008 result of 84.7 billion Nm³. The production the last 10 years could have been larger, but the Dutch parliament has passed the Natural Gas Law, which limited natural gas production to 75.9 billion Nm³ per year between 2003 and 2007, with this limit dropping to 70 billion Nm³ between 2008 and 2013. The government made this policy decision to cut back production in order to maintain reserves for future use. The onshore Groningen field, located in the north-east of the country, accounts for about one-half of total Dutch natural gas production, with remaining production spread across small fields both onshore and in the North Sea. The largest offshore field is K15. Nederlandse Aarodolie Maatschappij (NAM), a consortium of ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, operates both K15 and the Groningen field.
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