The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate has announced plans to grant ONE-Dyas licences for bringing the N05-A gas field in the North Sea into production. The draft decision was published and made available for inspection today, 23 April 2021. Aligned to the Dutch government’s small fields policy, the N05-A platform will be the first in the North Sea to run entirely on wind energy.

ONE-Dyas, together with partners Hansa Hydrocarbons and EBN, aims to extract natural gas from the N05-A field as well as surrounding fields in the German and Dutch North Sea. The platform will be located in Dutch waters c.20 kilometres north of Borkum, Rottumerplaat and Schiermonnikoog and lie approximately one and a half kilometres from German waters.

The North Sea’s first offshore wind-powered platform

The N05-A platform will be connected to the nearby German wind farm Riffgat, becoming the first offshore gas treatment platform in the North Sea powered entirely by wind energy. Chris de Ruyter van Steveninck, CEO ONE-Dyas:

“This landmark move to wind energy will reduce emissions from the production platform to zero. In terms of the overall project, we are talking about a reduction of 85 percent. It represents a serious contribution to the energy transition and shows our commitment to integrating sustainable energy sources as far as possible.”

“The Netherlands will still need natural gas in the coming decades – and extraction from our own territory offers a number of advantages over imported natural gas. In addition to the security of supply and the associated economic benefits, using our own natural gas also significantly reduces our CO2 footprint.”

GEMS project

GEMS stands for "Gateway to the Ems" and refers to an area in the North Sea stretching from approximately 20 kilometres to 100 kilometres north of the mouth of the Ems. Together with partners Hansa Hydrocarbons and EBN, ONE-Dyas is researching the potential of gas extraction in the area. The development of the N05-A gas field is a result of this partnership.

KeyFacts Energy Industry Directory: ONE-Dyas Netherlands country profile